METHODISTS AND REVIVALISM
IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA, 1838-1939:
THE QUEST FOR ‘VITAL RELIGION’
Brian Chalmers
BA (Mil.) (UNSW)
BTh (Flinders), MA (Flinders)
Grad. Dip. Pastoral Studies (Adelaide College of Divinity)
A Thesis submitted in fulfilment
of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
Faculty of Education, Humanities and Law
Flinders University
August 2016
Lake Eyre
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Teetulpa
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Port Augusta
Streaky
Bay
Melrose
Orroroo
Peterborough
Port Pirie
Jamestown
Georgetown
Franklin
Harbour
Clare
Wallaroo
Kadina
Watervale
Leasingham Auburn
Undalya
Balaklava
Kapunda
Maitland
Yorke
Peninsula
Port Lincoln
Minlaton
Gawler
Port Adelaide
Renmark
Angaston
Waikerie
Swan Reach
ADELAIDE
Mannum
Mount
Murray
Bridge
Barker
Willunga
Gu lf
Tailem
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Strathalbyn
St Vi nc e nt
Milang
Yankalilla Goolwa
Cape Jervis
Victor Port Elliot
Kingscote
Harbor
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Edithburgh
Cape Borda
Morgan
Moonta
Port Wakefield
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Burra
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Central Hill
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Murray
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Naracoorte
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Beachport
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Mount Gambier
Carpenter Rocks
South Australia
Map produced by flatEARTHmapping.com.au
Base data © copyright Geoscience Australia 2016
Cape Northumberland Port
MacDonnell
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract ........................................................................................................... ii
List of Abbreviations ................................................................................... iv
Declaration ...................................................................................................... v
Acknowledgments ......................................................................................... vi
Introduction .....................................................................................................1
Chapters
Part One 1838-1865
1 Methodist Foundations and Revivalism ................................................. 25
2 Sowing the Seeds of Colonial Revivalism ............................................. 45
3 Counting Methodists .............................................................................. 63
4 Burra and Central Hill Country Revivals 1858-1860 ............................ 72
Part Two 1866-1913
5 Evangelists and Revivalism ................................................................... 108
6 Challenges to Revivalism .......................................................................137
7 Democratisation of Revivalism ..............................................................165
8 Missions, Conventions, and More Missions 1902-1912 ........................186
Part Three 1914-1939
9 Revivalism in Transformation 1912-1921 ............................................. 205
10 Revivalists, Pentecostals, and Healers 1922-1923 ................................. 231
11 Revivalism Falters 1920s ....................................................................... 251
12 Revivalism Re-Examined 1930s ............................................................ 275
Conclusion ....................................................................................... 303
Appendices
1 Chronology of Revival Events – S.A. 1838-1939 ……………………... 315
2 Methodist Conversion and Membership Figures – S.A. 1838-1939 .......411
3 Annual Conversion Index (ACI) – S.A. 1838-1937 ............................... 428
4-1 Annual Conversion Index (ACI) – S.A. Graph 1840-1937 ................. 432
4-2 Annual Conversion Index (ACI) – S.A. Graph 1840-1937 ..................433
5 Methodist Conversions – S.A. Summary 1838-1939 ..............................434
Bibliography ..................................................................................... 435
i
ABSTRACT OF THESIS
In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Methodism was the most
vigorous religious group in South Australia with the largest body of regular church
attenders and Sunday school enrolments. A handful of Methodists were present at the
commencement of the colony in 1836. By 1900, self-described Methodists
comprised 25 per cent of the state’s population, and hovered around the same figure
through to 1939. This thesis explores the contribution of revivalism to conversionary
growth and institutional expansion in the period from 1838, with the first recorded
religious revival, to 1939. It results from a conviction that the study of revivalism
within Methodism has received too little attention from historians. It is argued in this
thesis that revivalism provided the Methodist churches with an effective
methodology for conversionary growth in the quest for ‘vital religion’ – a religion of
the heart.
This study includes a chronology of recorded revival activities. Collation of the
evidence has depended in large part on Steve Latham’s taxonomy of revival. His six
distinguishing forms of revival events provided the methodological framework for
arranging and categorising the relevant information. The narrative includes a
selective utilisation of both statistics and topics relevant to the argument. In addition,
an ‘Annual Conversion Index’ locates each revival within its denominational context,
while an examination of the number of reported conversions against membership
data also enables an assessment of the contribution of revivalism to denominational
growth. The main sources for reported conversions, membership, and narrative
information were denominational periodicals and church statistics.
Part One examines the place of revivalism in the initial colonial period from 1838
to 1865, with particular reference to the foundational elements within South
Australian Methodism which aided revivalism. Part Two covers the period from
1866 to 1913. This examines the contribution of specialist revivalists of international
or Australian origin who conducted large-scale missions in Adelaide alongside the
revivals that occurred in rural and suburban Methodist circuits as the result of local
evangelistic preaching. Part Three, from 1914 to 1939, examines how traditional
ii
revivalism adapted to various challenges, both intellectual and internal. There was
diminished revival activity in the inter-war period. The thesis demonstrates that
revivalism was far more extensive than previously thought, and was a very
significant factor in the numerical growth of South Australian Methodism during the
period studied.
iii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ACC
Australian Christian Commonwealth
ADB
Australian Dictionary of Biography
ADEB
Australian Dictionary of Evangelical Biography
CW&MJ
Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal
MJ
Methodist Journal
PMR
Primitive Methodist Record
SABCMag
South Australian Bible Christian Magazine (1867-1891)
SABCMon
South Australian Bible Christian Monthly (1892-1900)
SAPMR
South Australian Primitive Methodist Record
SAPP
South Australian Parliamentary Papers
SAPM
South Australian Primitive Methodist
SAWM
South Australian Wesleyan Magazine
SLSA
State Library of South Australia
SRG
Society Record Group (SLSA)
YMCA
Young Men’s Christian Association
iv
DECLARATION
I certify that this thesis does not incorporate without acknowledgment any material
previously submitted for a degree or diploma in any university; and that to the best of
my knowledge and belief it does not contain any material previously published or
written by another person except where due reference is made in the text.
Brian J. Chalmers
28 February 2016
v
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am indebted to many people for their advice, scholarly assistance and
encouragement during the writing of this thesis.
My principal supervisor, Dr. Josephine Laffin provided wise insight on all aspects of
my research and thesis preparation. Rev. Dr. John Calvert maintained careful
attention to detail and offered helpful perspectives on South Australian church
history matters. Dr. Rosemary Dewerse contributed timely advice on thesis
construction and methodology. I am also grateful to Dr. David Hilliard for casting
such a generous and critical eye over the text. All four academics exhibited qualities
that I can yet admire rather than emulate.
I would also like to thank the library staff at the State Library of South Australia,
Flinders University and the Adelaide College of Divinity, for their assistance and
cooperation. The volunteer helpers at the History Centre of the Uniting Church in
South Australia Historical Society provided unrestricted access to the Centre’s
resources. Thanks must also go to Margot Ogilvie for proof-reading the final stage of
this work.
I am very grateful for the kind-hearted interest shown by our three sons, Aaron,
James and Samuel, along with their respective families. Most of all, I would like to
thank my wife, Joanne, whose unconditional loving support has been a constant
source of encouragement.
Finally, in sharing the Christian faith with Methodists who dared to venture beyond
their known world to help establish another, I consider my family privileged and
myself richly blessed.
Brian J Chalmers
28 February 2016
vi
INTRODUCTION
This thesis finds its origin in the teaching of the late Rev. Dr. Arnold D. Hunt on
nineteenth-century South Australian Methodism, which he delivered to ministerial
candidates of the Uniting Church in Australia in 1981. Over the next thirty years,
amid reports of declining church attendances, the growth of Pentecostalism and the
Charismatic movement within Australia, and a desire often articulated by many in
the churches for a ‘revival’, I became convinced that a re-examination of South
Australian Methodist revivalism needed to be undertaken. In my experience as a
church minister, which often included attempts to apply the latest church growth
methods, I found little in the literature to suggest an appreciation of the methods,
experience, or rationale employed by Australian churches since colonial days to
propagate the faith in a new land. In addition, there was a general understanding that
religious revivals were relatively unknown in Australia. Hence, the challenge to
investigate the extent of Methodist revivalism in South Australia from the time of the
first recorded revival in 1838 to the Second World War (1838-1939).
In this period, Methodism looked for and utilised the revival, whether of the
spontaneous popular type or the arranged planned measure, to promote ‘vital
religion’. The following three statements, which refer to the beginning, middle, and
end of the period, are indicative of a sustained interest in revivals:
The first Lovefeast was held on June 3, 1838, presided over by Mr. Abbott.
It was a most blessed season. Many testified with tearful eyes and grateful
hearts of their Christian experience, rejoicing in their happy assurance of an
interest in the redemption by Jesus Christ and in the presence and power of
the Holy Spirit to sanctify and save. This Lovefeast was soon followed by a
glorious revival in the Circuit. A Sunday-school was established, and many
young persons, as well as older grown, were added to the Church.1
In July 1878, the editor of the South Australian Primitive Methodist Record
1
David Nock, The Life of Pastor Abbott (Adelaide: Hussey & Gillingham, 1909), 16. The Lovefeast
and associated revival took place eighteen months after the colony of South Australia was proclaimed
on 28 December 1836, and approximately five months before the unexpected arrival of the first
Wesleyan minister, the Rev. William Longbottom in August 1838. Jacob Abbott was a local preacher
with a ‘burning passion for souls’. Along with another local preacher, John C. White, as lay
superintendent, the two were instrumental in establishing a Wesleyan presence before Longbottom’s
arrival. See ACC, 28 May 1937, 2.
1
observed:
Religious life is by no means vigorous in South Australia… From all parts
of the land there comes a complaint of the low state of religion in the
province… Not Primitive Methodism alone, but almost all churches
complain of a general declension and deadness. The church’s great need is
for a widespread and permanent revival of religion. 2
In 1938, while reviewing the work of the Methodist Church in South Australia, the
editor of the Australian Christian Commonwealth remarked:
From far and near, in spite of the unsolved problems and the undeniable
frustration of humanity come the evidences of revival. Revival is a great
religious word, and today, as we believe, it has a noble connotation. Most
definitely, the battle is not lost.3
These three statements raise the principal question of this thesis, namely, what was
the extent and nature of Methodist revivalism? This thesis claims that little attention
has been paid by historians to Methodist revivalism in South Australia in the period
1838 to 1939. It will demonstrate that revivalism was more significant than
previously thought in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It will then
analyse the reasons for the decline in revivalism up to the Second World War.
Finally, the study will help clarify the meaning of the term ‘vital religion’ and its
relationship to revivalism within the South Australian context.
Purpose of Methodism
As revivalism is the focus of this thesis, it is important to locate the revival
within the broader context of the purpose of Methodism. In the statement above
about the work of Jacob Abbott in 1838, the author, David Nock, refers to the
‘presence and power of the Holy Spirit to sanctify and save’. The reference to
‘sanctification’ (growth in holiness or being made like God), relates to the goal of
Wesleyan Methodism in the early nineteenth century, understood as the ‘spread of
scriptural holiness through the land’. This statement of purpose, derived from
Methodism’s founder, John Wesley (1703-1791), and re-stated at the 1820 and 1835
English Wesleyan Methodist Conferences, provided the objective goal of Methodist
2
3
SAPMR, July 1878, 227-228.
ACC, 9 September 1838, 1.
2
mission activity throughout the world.4 To Methodists, holiness was exemplary
moral conduct, which emphasised love for God and people, and which began with
conversion.5 It continued throughout all of life and was progressive in nature.
However, ‘holiness’ or ‘entire sanctification’ could also be understood as a distinct
‘second work of grace’ subsequent to conversion, which should be sought by
believers. Both aspects (two stages) were present in colonial Methodist preaching.6
The second part of the statement referred to ‘save’ or the ‘salvation of souls’.
This was vitally important to early Methodists. Hence John Wesley’s admonition to
his followers: ‘You have nothing to do but to save souls. Therefore spend and be
spent in this work’.7 Although estranged from God because of sin, people could be
reconciled through conversion.8 Consequently, the salvation of souls was a priority
for Methodist preachers, for whom the ‘preaching of the gospel was the chief method
of winning converts’.9 For Wesley, conversion led on to holiness. In Wesley’s words,
the goal was to ‘bring as many sinners as you possibly can to repentance, and, with
all your power, to build them up in that holiness without which they cannot see the
Lord’.10 Holiness of life, therefore, was both the evidence and the object of the
Christian life. 11 Holiness was one of the marks of a Methodist minister. When the
Rev. John Thorne died in 1914, one who had known him in his youth said of him:
‘Because of his influence we aimed higher, we cherished loftier ideals, we thought
nobler thoughts, we lived cleaner and better lives’.12 Effective preaching of the
4
John Wesley, The Works of John Wesley (New York: Mason and Lane, 1839), v, 212. Henry W.
Williams, The Constitution and Polity of Wesleyan Methodism: being a Digest of its Laws and
Institutions brought down to the Conference of 1880 (London: Wesleyan Conference Centre, 1880),
117, 313. The Primitive Methodists and Bible Christians had similar statements.
5
Kenneth Collins, John Wesley: a Theological Journey (Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 2003), 186-189.
6
For an analysis of the place of the doctrine of ‘entire sanctification’ within Australian Methodism
from its colonial beginnings to the mid-nineteenth century see, Glen O’Brien, ‘Christian Perfection
and Australian Methodism’, in Sean Winter ed. Immense, Unfathomed, Unconfined: The Grace of
God in Creation, Church and Community (Melbourne: Uniting Academic Press, 2013), 234-248.
7
Large Minutes, 1797, 678.
8
John Wesley, The Works of John Wesley, 3rd edn. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1998), v, 76.
9
D. W. Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A history from the 1730s to the 1980s
(London: Unwin Hyman, 1989), 5.
10
Wesley, The Works of John Wesley, 3rd edn., viii, 310. See also, the Handbook of the Laws and
Regulations of the Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church, 1877, 78 for the inclusion of Wesley’s
words.
11
Wesley, The Works of John Wesley, 3rd edn., viii, 366-446.
12
ACC, 4 September 1914. Well known throughout the mid and far-north of South Australia during
the 1870s to 1890s, Thorne (a Bible Christian) ministered in such places as Riverton, Gladstone,
Crystal Brook, and Port Augusta.
3
gospel, which produces converts who then progress in holiness, was the goal of
Methodism. Conversion was the entry-point to a life of holiness, an essential
component of the spread of Methodist piety. The emphasis within Methodism on
conversion and growth in holiness was essential to understanding the nature and
purposes of the church, which the Oecumenical Methodist Conference (London,
1881) defined as:
A divine institution for the salvation of men, by clear conversions and entire
sanctification [holiness], through faith in Christ, by the power of the Holy
Ghost, by continued growth in grace, and by the constant, faithful labours of
all its members.13
Conversion and growth in Christ (holiness) formed a summary statement of the two
stages in the religious life of the Methodist. The first centred on justification and the
‘new birth’; the second on sanctification, where, under grace, perfection is possible
in this life.14
On the wider evangelical canvas, conversion was similarly important. David
Bebbington has characterised evangelicalism as ‘conversionist’, asserting that
‘conversion was the one gateway to vital Christianity’.15 John Wolffe, in his
assessment of the spread of evangelicalism in North America from 1790 to 1820,
states that ‘revivals did not on their own account for the expansion of evangelicalism,
but they were showing themselves to be an important factor in its growth’.16 Wolffe
makes a similar claim for the period 1820 to 1850, particularly in relation to
Methodist expansion, which resulted from a ‘more universal and enthusiastic
embrace of revivals’.17 Revivals and popular multi-day camp meetings on the
American frontier persuaded Francis Asbury (1745-1816) in the early nineteenth
century of the value of revivalism to produce converts as a means of Methodist
13
‘Address of the Oecumenical Conference’, Proceedings of the Oecumenical Methodist Conference,
(Hamilton: S. G. Stone, 1882), 582-587. This address was published in full in the SABCM, February
1882, 57-61. Notes on Conference proceedings appeared in the South Australian Primitive Methodist
Record, January 1882, 205-211. The Conference was widely reported on in the colony. See South
Australian Weekly Chronicle, 12 November 1881, 7-8.
14
William J. Abraham, ‘Christian Perfection’, in William J. Abraham and James E. Kirby, eds., The
Oxford Handbook of Methodist Studies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 587-601.
15
Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, 7.
16
John Wolffe, The Expansion of Evangelicalism: The Age of Wilberforce, More, Chalmers and
Finney (Nottingham: Inter-Varsity Press, 2006), 67.
17
Ibid., 88.
4
growth.18 Similarly, the importance of the revival and conversionism to stimulate
Methodist expansion occurred in England as well. In the second half of the
nineteenth century and first few years of the twentieth, the ‘growth of Methodism
was marked by a pattern of pulsation, with high rates of growth in years when revival
was common’.19 The ability of the revival to deliver conversions and its inherent
power to effect change, widely understood and looked for within international
Methodism, inspired the 1881 London Oecumenical Methodist Conference to call on
worldwide Methodism to ‘cry out to God night and day for a great awakening, for a
revival that shall shake the nations’.20 We can say, therefore, that revivalism was an
intensification of Methodist ministry with the aim of saving souls or producing
converts.
Methodism pursued revivalism because of its ability to produce converts and
subsequent denominational growth. After Wesley, Jabez Bunting (1779-1858), the
notable and cautious Wesleyan leader, referred to revivals as spiritual
‘thunderstorms’ while he counselled against excess emotionalism.21 Chadwick states
that ‘Methodists confessed that every preacher ought to be at heart a revivalist’.22
The English Methodist scholar, Gordon S. Wakefield (1921-2000), claimed that
nineteenth-century worldwide Methodism made ‘a perennial call for revival, revival,
and still more revival’.23 In his analysis of revivals in Methodist churches in the cities
and large towns of eastern America in the first thirty years of the nineteenth-century,
Richard Carwardine concluded that ‘Methodism was wholeheartedly a revival
movement: it had been born out of revival; its churches grew through revivals; its
ministers preached revival; and its success was talked of in terms of revival’.24
Throughout North America, Martin Marty credits the rapid expansion of Methodism
18
J. Wigger, American Saint: Francis Asbury and the Methodists (New York: Oxford University
Press, 2009).
19
David W. Bebbington, The Dominance of Evangelicalism: The Age of Spurgeon and Moody
(Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 2005), 99.
20
Proceedings of the Oecumenical Methodist Conference, 1881, 583-587.
21
Owen Chadwick, The Victorian Church, 2nd edn. (London: Adam and Charles Black, 1970), 378379.
22
Ibid., 378.
23
Gordon S. Wakefield, Methodist Devotion: The Spiritual Life in the Methodist Tradition 1791-1945
(London: Epworth Press, 1966), 60.
24
Richard Carwardine, ‘The Second Great Awakening in the Urban Centres: An Examination of
Methodism and the “New Measures”’, Journal of American History 59, no. 2 (September 1972): 327340, at 330.
5
in the nineteenth-century to the impact of numerous revivals.25 Interest in revivalism
as invoking activity ‘from above’ and conversion narratives, often known for
accounts of physical manifestations and spiritual experiences, also attracted interest
beyond institutional churches.26 Wherever Methodism founded societies and
established a presence, enthusiastic gospel preaching and prayer created an
expectation that revivals would occur and result in many conversions.27 Just eighteen
months after the colony of South Australia commenced, a revival among the
colonists in 1838 resulted in conversions and accelerated growth for the early
Methodists. Sixty-three years later, while reflecting on his life’s ministry throughout
Australia, including three years in Adelaide (1862-1865), the Methodist evangelist,
John Watsford (1820-1907), claimed that ‘if we went through our Church today, we
should find that the majority of our members were converted in revivals’.28
We can say, therefore, that in Methodism, revivals were a vital part of producing
converts who then went on to build a life characterised by holiness. Clearly, for
Methodists, revivals meant soul-winning and holiness. For many Methodists, the
spiritual experience of the revival-induced conversion was an important part in
‘verifying and validating many people’s religious faith’.29 However, the spiritually
and temporally astute Wesley observed that growth in holiness was neither
guaranteed, uniform, nor continuous. He pointed out that revivalism, prosperity, and
indifference, often intersected the life of the vital religionist:
I fear, wherever riches have increased, (exceeding few are the exceptions,)
the essence of religion, the mind that was in Christ, has decreased in the
same proportion. Therefore do I not see how it is possible, in the nature of
things, for any revival of true religion to continue long. For religion must
necessarily produce both industry and frugality; and these cannot but
produce riches. But as riches increase, so will pride, anger, and love of the
25
Martin Marty, ‘North America’, in John McManners, ed. Oxford Dictionary of Christianity
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990), 396-436.
26
William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience (New York: Longmans, Green, and Co,
1917), 186-253. Quote from 223.
27
Henry Rack, Reasonable Enthusiast: John Wesley and the Rise of Methodism (London: Epworth
Press, 1989), 158-161.
28
John Watsford, Glorious Gospel Triumphs (London: Charles H. Kelly, 1901), 133. Stuart Piggin
associated John Watsford with numerous revival meetings throughout Sydney and country New South
Wales in the second half of the nineteenth century. See Stuart Piggin, ‘Local Revivals in Australia’,
Renewal Journal 2 (1993): 35-42.
29
Christian Smith, American Evangelicalism: Embattled and Thriving (Chicago and London:
University of Chicago Press, 1998), 173.
6
world in all its branches. How, then, is it possible that Methodism, that is,
the religion of the heart, though it flourishes now as a green bay-tree, should
continue in this state? For the Methodists in every place grow diligent and
frugal; consequently, they increase in goods. Hence they proportionately
increase in pride, in anger, in the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes,
and the pride of life. So, although the form of religion remains, the spirit is
swiftly vanishing away. Is there no way to prevent this? This continual
declension of pure religion?30
Wesley’s followers answered their founder’s question with a ‘perennial call for
revival’. Hence, the importance of the revival, predicated on loss, deterioration, and
spiritual vacuity, to restore vitality in the church.
This thesis will examine the nature of revivalism within South Australian
Methodism from 1838 to 1939, including its ability to generate conversionary growth
and institutional expansion. The theme of holiness is not the primary object of this
study, although how it worked itself out in the life of the Methodist affected the
practice of revivalism, and therefore warrants some investigation.
Context
Overall, little has been written on the topic of revivals with respect to Australian
religious history. According to the Australian historian Stuart Piggin, one of the
‘stereotypes about Australian Christianity is that there has never been a religious
revival in Australia’.31 Piggin, however, suggests that they have been ‘relatively
frequent’ throughout the history of Australia, and identifies thirty-one revivals that
occurred in five states between 1834 and 1869.32 Arnold Hunt, author of the standard
Letter from John Wesley to an unnamed clerical correspondent dated 4 August 1786, ‘Thoughts
Upon Methodism’, quoted by John Emory in The Works of the Reverend John Wesley, American edn.,
vol. VII (New York: Emory and Waugh, 1831), 317. Max Weber quoted it from Robert Southey, Life
of Wesley, chap. xxiv, 2nd American edn, vol. II, 308 in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of
Capitalism, trans. by Talcott Parsons, 1930 (New York and London: Charles Scribner’s Sons and
George Allen & Unwin, 1950), 175.
31
Stuart Piggin, Spirit, Word and World: Evangelical Christianity in Australia, 3rd edn. (Brunswick
East, VIC: Acorn, 2012), 39. The Australian Pentecostal historian, Barry Chant is of the same opinion.
See, Barry Chant, The Spirit of Pentecost: The Origins and Development of the Pentecostal Movement
in Australia 1870-1939 (Lexington, KY: Emeth Press, 2011), 26.
32
Piggin, Spirit, Word and World, 40. In an earlier study published in 1994, Piggin identifies seventytwo revivals that occurred in six states between 1834 and 1894. See Stuart Piggin, ‘The History of
Revival in Australia’, in Mark Hutchinson and Edmund Campion, eds., Re-Visioning Australian
Colonial Christianity: New Essays in the Australian Christian Experience 1788-1900 (Sydney: Centre
for the Study of Australian Christianity, 1994), 175-177. See also, Piggin, ‘Local Revivals in
Australia’, 35-42.
30
7
history of the Methodist Church in South Australia, came to the measured conclusion
that Methodists experienced ‘many missions, no revivals’, despite the fact that they
were the ‘most confident denomination’ in their expectation of recurring religious
revivals.33 R. B. Walker, in his analysis of the growth of Wesleyan Methodism in
New South Wales in the nineteenth-century, also acknowledged this.34 Two years
earlier, Walker, in a study of South Australian Methodism in the nineteenth century,
rightly claimed that revivalism was central to the work of the church. Furthermore,
Walker suggests that 1883 was ‘probably the last year in which revivals conflagrated
generally throughout the colony’.35 Hunt’s analysis on the effect and extent of
revivalism in the period 1870 to 1900 is summarised in one key statement:
What is clear from all these campaigns is that in the last 30 years of the
nineteenth-century a pattern of evangelism became fixed in Methodism as in
other Protestant bodies. Every minister was still expected to be a winner of
souls, but increasingly it was believed that the church could only be saved
from spiritual anaemia by a periodical injection of revivalist religion
administered by a visiting physician.36
His conclusion understates the extent of Methodist revivalist practice. Although
Hunt’s narrative is compelling, he downplays the importance of conversionism as the
gateway to ‘vital religion’, and therefore, omits to draw the linkage between
conversion and revivalist preaching as the mainstay of Methodist expansion and
influence.
Two years after the publication of Hunt’s This Side of Heaven in 1985, Hugh
Jackson in Churches & People in Australia and New Zealand 1860-1930, went
further than Hunt when he noted the importance of the conversion experience in the
revitalisation of the Protestant churches in England at the beginning of the nineteenth
century.37 Jackson relied on membership figures and observations on immigration to
33
Arnold Hunt, ‘The Moonta Revival of 1875’, cassette produced by New Creation Publications,
Blackwood, SA. Quoted by Stuart Piggin, Spirit of a Nation (Sydney: Strand, 2004), 42.
34
R. B. Walker, ‘The Growth and Typology of the Wesleyan Methodist Church in New South Wales
1812-1901’, Journal of Religious History (December 1971), 334.
35
R. B. Walker, ‘Methodism in the ‘Paradise of Dissent’, 1837-1900’, Journal of Religious History,
vol. 5, no. 2 (1969), 331-347; at 339-340.
36
Arnold D. Hunt, This Side of Heaven: A History of Methodism in South Australia (Adelaide:
Lutheran Publishing House, 1985), 1, 130.
37
H. R. Jackson, Churches and People in Australia and New Zealand 1860-1930 (Wellington: Allen
& Unwin in association with Port Nicholson Press, 1987), 5, 48. Jackson’s book is based on his earlier
PhD Thesis, ‘Aspects of Congregationalism in South Eastern Australia, circa 1880 to 1930’ (PhD
8
credit revivalism with the growth of the churches in Australia and New Zealand. This
study examines conversion data and membership statistics to assess the impact of
revivals in the growth of South Australian Methodism. In 1994, Brian Dickey, as
editor of The Australian Dictionary of Evangelical Biography, also noted the
important linkage between revivals and conversions:
They (Methodists) were the evangelicals par excellence through the
nineteenth-century: they carried revival and their Bibles all over Australia
and beyond to proclaim the cross as the way of salvation, to call men and
women to repentance and conversion, and on to an active life of service.
They were the Protestant light cavalry of Australia.38
The place of the revival within Methodism to deliver conversions was fundamental
to the itinerating Methodist preachers of the nineteenth-century.
The most recent comprehensive history of Australian religion is Ian Breward’s
wide-ranging A History of the Churches in Australasia (2001). Breward
acknowledges the ‘evangelistic and conversionist ethos of Methodism’, but limits his
treatment of revivalism and Methodism in South Australia to noting how the much
‘longed-for revival’ failed to materialise. 39 His article on Methodism in the
Encyclopedia of Religion in Australia acknowledges that ‘Wesley’s advocacy of vital
personal religion sought to integrate grace and responsibility’. Breward’s only
reference to local revivals noted their occurrence and that Methodist papers included
reports of these. 40
Research undertaken by Robert Evans, on the other hand, has demonstrated the
extensive nature of revivals in Australia from early colonial settlement until 1914.
His two volumes (2000, and 2005) provide the researcher with an invaluable survey
of the widespread incidence of revival occurrence throughout most of the Australian
colonies/states, although he limits in the main his South Australian research up to the
Thesis, Australian National University, 1978).
38
Brian Dickey, ed., The Australian Dictionary of Evangelical Biography (Sydney: Evangelical
History Association, 1994), ix.
39
Ian Breward, A History of the Churches in Australasia (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001),
178, 192.
40
Ian Breward, ‘Methodists’, in James Jupp, ed. The Encyclopedia of Religion in Australia
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), 404-415. Reference to revivals at 407.
9
mid-1880s.41 Appendix 1 extends the chronology past the mid-1880s, identifying 574
revival-type events that occurred within South Australian Methodism from 1838 to
1939, encompassing a century of Methodist interaction with revivalist influences.42
As a result, therefore, a more detailed focus on Methodist revivalism will provide a
perspective only hinted at, but not previously viewed.
Renewed interest within worldwide Methodism on the writings of John Wesley,
Methodist studies, and the search for a ‘new identity’, featured in the contributions in
The Oxford Handbook of Methodist Studies (2009).43 Despite an initial statement on
the nature of ‘the primary categories that capture what Wesley was and did are those
of evangelist, spiritual director, revivalist, and renewalist’, the theme of ‘revival’ is
lacking from the suite of forty-two separate articles.44 Perhaps the comment by
Thomas R. Albin indicates why revivalism merited little historical analysis and reevaluation:
The weakness of many Methodist and Wesleyan movements of the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries had to do with their focus on the past
glories of revival and renewal. The impact of the early Methodists were
often idealized and exaggerated, creating an inappropriate standard to
evaluate the work of God’s Spirit in the present day and obscuring the need
for innovation and change in order to live faithfully into the future.45
On the other hand, the assessment is suggestive of the need for further work within
the academy to explore appropriate ‘standards’ by which to assess any contemporary
application of revivalism within the historic Methodist penumbra.
Likewise, the only national history of Australian Methodism since James
Colwell’s Illustrated History (1904), also lacks a comprehensive assessment of
revivals within Australian Methodism. Apart from isolated references to revivals
from different authors within the scholarly Methodism in Australia: A History
41
Robert Evans, Early Evangelical Revivals in Australia: A Study of Surviving Published Materials
about Evangelical Revivals in Australia up to 1880 (Hazelbrook, NSW: Robert Evans, 2000), and
Evangelism and Revivals in Australia 1880-1914 (Hazelbrook, NSW: Robert Evans, 2005). Evans
does make brief reference to the Chapman-Alexander missions in South Australia during 1909 and
1912.
42
See Appendix 1 for details.
43
William J. Abraham and James E. Kirby, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Methodist Studies (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2009).
44
Ibid., viii.
45
Thomas R. Albin, ‘Experience of God’, in William J. Abraham and James E. Kirby, eds., The
Oxford Handbook of Methodist Studies, 379-397, at 394.
10
(2015), only two authors include well-researched sections on revivals within their
chapters.46 Glen O’Brien observes that ‘a good deal of organisational energy was put
into revivals as part of the machinery of Methodist expansion’.47 Of South Australian
Methodism in the nineteenth century, David Hilliard makes a similar observation
when he states that, ‘the surest way for the church to grow, almost everyone agreed,
was through revival’.48 In an earlier work, Hilliard acknowledges the strivings of
Methodist leaders in South Australia in their efforts to repeat the Wesleyan revival of
the eighteenth century, and although the much-anticipated revival never eventuated
in the colony, Methodism experienced ‘record growth rates’ in the 1880s.49
Perhaps the most significant recent contribution to the study of international
localised revivals that included a South Australian Methodist example (Moonta,
1875) is David Bebbington’s Victorian Religious Revivals (2012).50 His microhistory approach locates the Moonta revival within a late nineteeth-century common
evangelical and revival culture within English-speaking Protestant communities.
Bebbington’s approach to integrate the specific aspects of seven individual revivals
within a broader analysis of international revivalism, provided a model for the
examination of the Burra revival (1858-1860) in chapter 4 of this thesis. Bebbington
also attributes the importance of the Moonta revival to deliver an estimated 1,250
conversions.51
The only published book on South Australian Methodism since Arnold Hunt’s
This Side of Heaven (1985), is Edwin A. Curnow’s Bible Christian Methodists in
South Australia 1850-1900 (2015).52 Curnow’s extensive and detailed research
contains numerous references to localised revivals in the second half of the
nineteenth century. Unfortunately, owing to its recent availability and the time
46
David Hilliard, ‘Methodism in South Australia’, in Glen O’Brien and Hilary M. Carey, eds.,
Methodism in Australia: A History (Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2015), 59-74, at
61; Glen O’Brien, ‘Australian Methodist Religious Experience’, 167-179, at 170-173.
47
O’Brien, ‘Australian Methodist Religious Experience’, 171.
48
Hilliard, ‘Methodism in South Australia’, 61.
49
D. Hilliard, Popular Revivalism in South Australia from the 1870s to the 1920s (Adelaide: Uniting
Church Historical Society, South Australia, 1982), 5, 17.
50
David Bebbington, Victorian Religious Revivals: Culture and Piety in Local and Global Contexts
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012).
51
Bebbington, Victorian Religious Revivals, 199.
52
Edwin A. Curnow, Bible Christian Methodists in South Australia 1850-1900: A Biography of
Chapels and their People (Black Forest, SA: Uniting Church SA Historical Society, 2015).
11
constraints of this thesis, I was unable to undertake a detailed examination of
Curnow’s work against the evidence presented in Appendix 1. It is likely that
additional Bible Christian revivals can be included in the chronology.
We can see, therefore, acknowledgement of the importance of revivals to deliver
conversions, and, as a consequence, to advance the cause of ‘vital religion’. The
thesis will examine South Australian Methodism from 1838 to 1939 to determine the
nature and extent of revivalism. As no detailed study of this nature has been
undertaken, this thesis will be a significant contribution to the knowledge of South
Australian Methodist revivalism.
Definitions
We have established that the quest for ‘vital religion’ within Methodism began
with conversion and continued with evidences of the vital Christian life as the
member progressed in holiness. This stood in contrast to mere nominalism. This
study examines revivalism as the preferred means within colonial and state
Methodism to obtain individual conversions. In order to clarify the meaning of the
term ‘vital religion’ and its relationship to revivalism, reference will be made to
themes of moral reform such as temperance and Sabbath observance as evidence of
the vital Christian life of the Methodist.
In this study the following definitions apply:53
• ‘Vital Religion’
A religion of the heart initiated by individual conversion, which sought to
embed Protestant morality into both the private and public spheres of life.
The background for an understanding of the term ‘vital religion’ is found in the
seventeenth and eighteenth-century European movements for a ‘religion of the
heart’. These movements highlighted affective devotion and appeared in Catholicism
53
Further comment on the definition of revival is in chapter 2. The definitions of ‘vital religion’,
‘revival’, and ‘conversion’ contain representative elements included in statements made by various
Methodists and published in denominational periodicals. See for example, SABCMag, February 1868,
57; August 1874, 4; ACC, 14 December 1923, 3; 30 January 1925, 3; 18 February 1925, 3; 24 July
1925, 3; 20 May 1927, 1; 2 November 1928, 14; 22 February 1929, 7; 18 August 1933, 4; 12 August
1938, 4.
12
in the form of Jansenism (France) and Quietism (Spain). In England, the pursuit of
heartfelt religious experience found expression among Quakers and Puritans and
came to the fore again during the ‘Evangelical Revival’ in eighteenth-century Britain
and the ‘First Great Awakening’ in the British colonies of North America. Pietism
among Continental Protestants developed its own form and ethos.54
John Wesley experienced a significant personal and experiential religious event
in 1738, which proved foundational in the eventual emergence of Methodism as a
‘religion of the heart’ movement within Evangelical Protestantism.55 Stemming from
Wesley’s experience, Methodism emphasised the sufficiency of Christ alone for
salvation, the assurance of forgiveness and the affective nature of the experience. 56
Doctrinal belief was important to Wesley, but the ‘Aldersgate’ experience
demonstrated how faith could become personal and vital. These emphases were
central in the subsequent preaching of Wesley during the Evangelical Revival of
1739 and later years. Such emphases, Wesley insisted, were not new, but were part
of ‘old religion’, ‘true primitive Christianity’.57
Ian Bradley’s The Call to Seriousness, which analyses the effects of the
Evangelical movement upon Victorian England, provides a nuanced account of ‘vital
religion’ as distinct from a plurality of religious topics more in keeping with a
generalised evangelicalism.58 Like Hunt, Bradley locates the origins of ‘vital
religion’ within the Evangelical Revival of mid-eighteenth-century Britain. He
emphasises the ‘doctrine of conversion at the heart of Evangelical theology’, but
limits his treatment to the efforts made by Evangelical clergy to revitalize the Church
of England, and omits any reference to the practice of revivalism and its ability to
initiate conversion. Having made the claim for the revivalist origins in what the
‘founding fathers of the Evangelical Revival…described as “‘vital religion’”,
54
These movements are outlined in Ted A. Campbell, The Religion of the Heart: A Study of European
Religious Life in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (Columbia: University of South Carolina,
1991).
55
This event which took place at Aldersgate, London, on 24 May 1738 is often referred to as the
‘Aldersgate Experience’, or when he ‘felt his heart strangely warmed’. See A. Harold Wood, The
Aldersgate Experience of John Wesley (Melbourne: Uniting Church Press, 1988), 24.
56
Wood, 4. ‘Salvation by Faith’, was the first of John Wesley’s ‘Standard Sermons’, which became
part of Methodist doctrine and teaching. The sermon has been described as the ‘Manifesto of
Methodism’. See, Wood, 10.
57
Albert C. Outler, ed., John Wesley (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980), 498.
58
Ian Bradley, The Call to Seriousness: The Evangelical Impact on the Victorians, 2nd edn., (Oxford:
Lion, 2006).
13
Bradley acknowledges the followers of John Wesley as those who embraced the
‘new vital religion’ and who became known as Methodists.59 As Bradley situates
‘vital religion’ in the context of the Evangelical Revival’s ‘reaction against the
worldliness and complacency of eighteenth-century England’, he, therefore, defines
‘vital religion’ variously as a ‘movement with the characteristics of Evangelicalism’,
and as an ‘intense, urgent, all-consuming faith’ which ‘appealed wholeheartedly and
unashamedly to the emotions’. Furthermore, Bradley identifies a number of
characteristics of ‘vital religion’, including its introspective nature and animating
power, which encouraged seriousness of purpose, personal stewardship, self-denial,
personal usefulness, and a lifestyle governed by its evangelical orientation.60
• ‘Revival’
A time of increased spiritual intensity in which conversions take place and
believers are revitalized in their faith.
• ‘Revivalism’
Evangelical activism to produce ‘a revival [which] is the result of the right
use of the appropriate means’.61
• ‘Conversion’
The personal acceptance and assurance of justification by faith in the
atoning death of Jesus Christ for salvation.
The importance of the life-changing conversion experience, according to Mark Noll,
was what the ‘evangelicals themselves would have uniformly affirmed that at the
bottom of their religion was a work of God that genuinely redirected lives, genuinely
reoriented perspective, genuinely led on to lives of holiness… It was new in what it
claimed for the power of God in creating and sustaining authentic religious
existence’.62 For the Methodist, the power manifested in the conversion experience
59
Ibid., 11-12; 17.
Ibid., 15-28.
61
Steve Latham, “‘God came from Teman’: Revival and Contemporary Revivalism”, in Andrew
Walker and Kristin Aune, eds., On Revival: A Critical Examination, (Carlisle, Cumbria: Paternoster
Press, 2003), 175. Charles G. Finney, Lectures on Revivals of Religion, (Oberlin, Ohio: E. J.
Goodrich, 1868), 13. This is the fundamental premise of Finney’s Lectures on Revivals of Religion.
62
Mark A. Noll, The Rise of Evangelicalism (Leicester, IVP, 2004), 269-270.
60
14
was no work of mere nominal faith. It was, as Isaac Watts wrote, ‘True Christianity,
where it reigns in the heart, will make itself appear in the purity of life… The fruits
of the Spirit are found in the life and the heart together’.63 Hence the centrality of the
conversion experience in generating the power to live a life of holiness.
• ‘Moral Reform’
Self-conscious, organised efforts by Methodists to change moral values and
to modify people’s patterns of behaviour accordingly.64
This definition is considered adequate for the study as it encapsulates the oftenrepeated Methodist desire to ‘Christianise Australia’, which included alignment to
Methodist morality.65 For many, revivalist conversionism was not the path to inert
moralism, but the initiator for an activist humanitarianism inspired by the gospel.
John Wesley’s two emphases of both personal and societal transformation have been
described as his ‘functional holistic model of salvation’.66
• ‘Evangelicalism’
David Bebbington’s widely accepted definition of evangelicalism as a movement
characterised by conversionism, biblicism, crucicentrism, and activism, is helpful
and instructive to establish the parameters of evangelicalism for this study.67
63
Isaac Watts, Abuses of the Emotions in Spiritual Life (1746), quoted here from Mark A. Noll, The
Rise of Evangelicalism, 67.
64
Adapted from the definition of ‘moral reform’ by the British historian, M. J. D. Roberts in Making
English Morals: Voluntary Association and Moral Reform in England, 1787-1886 (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2004), 1.
65
See for example, the statement by the Rev. W. F. James to ‘Christianise Australia’ included in the
annual address to the Bible Christian Conference in 1890. SABCM, August 1890, 227-236.
66
‘Reclaiming Holistic Salvation: A Continuing Wesleyan Agenda’, in Nathan Crawford, Jonathan
Dodrill and David Wilson, eds., Holy Imagination: Thinking About Social Holiness (Lexington, KY:
Emeth Press, 2015), 41-54.
67
Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, 1-17. Carey suggests that the term ‘evangelicalism’
has three meanings: ‘Protestant’; ‘a network of Protestant movements throughout the world’; and
‘evangelicals identified with the Church of England (‘Evangelicals’), in Hilary Carey, God’s Empire:
Religion and Colonialism in the British World, c1801-1908 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2011), 149. Stuart Piggin suggests that there are three strands in evangelicalism: ‘Spirit, Word, and
World’, which correspond to experiential, Biblicist, and activist. According to Piggin they ‘aim to
produce right-heartedness (orthokardia), right thinking (orthodoxy) and right action (orthopraxis)’ in
Piggin, Spirit of a Nation, v-xii. W.R. Ward has declared that Bebbington’s definition is ‘magisterial’
but acknowledges that there are problems with it. He claims rightly, that all Christians are to some
extent, ‘biblicist’, and that ‘conversionism’ had a prior history within the Pietist tradition. See W.R.
Ward, ‘The Making of the Evangelical Mind’, in Geoffrey R. Treloar and Robert D. Linder eds.,
15
Finally, two comments about usage of the term ‘revival’ need to be made. First,
Methodists tended to use the word ‘revival’ whether the event described appeared to
be spontaneous in origin (Calvinist overtones – God’s sovereignty aligned with
human waiting and passivity), or whether the revival appeared be the result of
conditions fostered by the revivalist (revivalism). Second, the term ‘revival’, in the
main, referred to a single church that underwent a brief period of increased spiritual
intensity, which produced a number of conversions and revitalizations with or
without any apparent affect on the surrounding community. However, the term could
also refer to a revival that included multiple churches across a larger geographical
area, with numerous conversions over an extended period that affected the wider
community, such as Burra from 1858 to 1860, and Moonta in 1875.
Scope of Thesis
Although the nature of the revitalisation of faith is as old as Christianity itself, the
study is bounded by two significant dates. As revivalism first appeared in 1838, some
eighteen months after the commencement of the colony, and continued in various
forms for the next hundred years until 1939, although diminished in extent and reach
during the inter-war years, these two dates serve as chronological markers for the
study’s context. The terminal date coincides with the outbreak of the Second World
War, and with the re-appointment of the Conference evangelist to undertake
evangelism especially within the church. With increased emphasis of the work of the
Conference evangelist, the date also marks the diminution of the circuit-based revival
as the preferred means for the conversion of those outside the church.68
Methodology
In order to investigate Methodist revivalism the following steps were undertaken:
Making History for God: Essays on Evangelicalism, Revival and Mission (Sydney: Robert Menzies
College, 2004), 309. For the view of a theologian on the meaning of evangelicalism, see Alister E.
McGrath, Christian Theology: An Introduction, 3rd edn. (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2001), 121.
His ‘cluster of four assumptions’ is identical to Bebbington’s four key ingredients.
68
The study’s end-date of 1939 does not signify the end of Methodist revivalism in South Australia.
Revivalist activity diminished during the Second World War, but found a new emphasis afterwards
with the conduct of the Thanksgiving Memorial Crusade in the immediate post-war years.
16
Review of Primary Sources
The Methodist denominational periodicals, official records and proceedings such
as the Minutes of South Australia Conference (annual), and the Minutes of General
Conference of the Methodist Church of Australasia (triennial), Laws and
Regulations, and the minutiae of local church organisations and groups provided the
main sources of primary material. Included in the former were the Wesleyan
Magazine (1864-1874), Methodist Journal (1874-1881), Illustrated Christian Weekly
and Methodist Journal (1881-1882), Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal (18821900), South Australian Bible Christian Magazine (1867-1891), South Australian
Bible Christian Monthly (1892-1900), South Australian Primitive Methodist Record
(1863-1900), and the Australian Christian Commonwealth (1900-1939). Painstaking
examination of these serials provided an extensive collection of subject matter.
Editorial interest and leading articles often shed understanding on the nature and
extent of revivalism. Reports of local revivals were numerous. Various terms used
include: ‘revival’, ‘showers of blessing’, ‘evangelistic mission’, ‘crusade’; and the
more theologically charged, nineteenth-century ‘glorious outpourings of the Holy
Ghost’. Such terminology can indicate what the commentator thought was happening
when describing the event, and allows for changes over time to be appraised. A
varied terminology also indicates that there was no longer a common definition of
revival, or at a deeper level, understanding of what constitutes revival.69 Hence, this
study will often refer to ‘revival-type event/s’ as a somewhat inclusive term given the
variety of original descriptors used.
Information about revivals often appeared in columns dedicated to ‘Revival
News’, ‘Church News’, local church histories, obituaries, personal news,
biographies, reminiscences, or letters to the editor. Critical to this study was the
inclusion of conversion statistics provided by local church representatives.
Conversions were widely reported in the denominational periodicals, often in
association with revivals and missions. As Conference statistics did not include these
figures, the periodicals provided a valuable source of information. Circuit quarterly
69
For a brief account of changes to the meaning of the term ‘revival’, see David W. Bebbington, The
Dominance of Evangelicalism: The Age of Spurgeon and Moody, Leicester, Inter-Varsity Press, 2005,
99-102.
17
returns, as well as annual District and Conference returns provided membership
figures.
Beyond the denominational periodicals, secular newspapers added to the
abundance of church-produced material. They were of particular importance for the
period of colonial settlement from 1838 to the mid-1860s, before the commencement
of denominational periodicals. The valuable, though limited, searches undertaken
were specific in nature, but suggestive of further work required to encompass a more
complete understanding of colonial Methodism. Of particular value were the
Register, Advertiser, and Observer, whilst local country newspapers such as the
Kadina and Wallaroo Times often reported details not included in the Adelaide
papers.70 Hence, the thesis relies on primary sources whenever possible, but their use
in the interpretative narrative required the use of appropriate secondary sources as
well, particularly when assessing conformity to evangelicalism.
As with most sources, there are gaps and partialities reflected in the literature. In
the official publications, particularly the denominational periodicals, the editors were
ordained men and tended to reflect a bias, in published sermons and articles, toward
the institutional priorities of the Methodist churches, such as denominational growth
and advocacy of the moral reform agenda. In addition to editorial selectivity, circuit
officials and revivalists responded in different ways to requests for news.71 Not
surprisingly, lay-authored letters to Methodist periodicals at times indicated a strong
lay perspective on issues, which tended to reflect longevity of perspective, often
denied to the itinerant minister. The lack of female voices in the denominational
periodicals limited the range of perspectives offered.72 Editors of secular periodicals
70
The Register, Advertiser, and Observer often included country news items as well, and therefore
provide important source material before the commencement of local serials. The Kadina and
Wallaroo Times included information on the evangelistic visit of the Rev. Lionel Fletcher in 1915 that
supplemented the reports in the Adelaide serials.
71
This is apparent with the different coverage given to the visits in 1894 of Thomas Cook (British
Wesleyan connexional evangelist), and John MacNeil (Presbyterian Church of Victoria evangelist).
The former’s coverage was extensive and detailed while the latter was limited and general. The same
comment could be made about the first two Wesleyan Conference appointed connexional evangelists,
who self-reported their activity. David O’Donnell’s (1887) reporting and coverage was more detailed
than G. W. Kendrew’s (1888-1889) brief and sporadic reportage.
72
A notable exception was Serena Lake (nee Thorne) whose diary provided valuable reflective
insights during her work as a preacher, and social reformer. Serena Thorne’s original diary is held by
the Uniting Church Historical Society of South Australia. See also ‘Serena Thorne’s Diary’, Uniting
Church in South Australia Historical Society, Newsletter, no. 1 (January 1978): 5-9. A microfilm copy
18
also exercised judgment as to whether religious events, including revivals, warranted
press coverage, and copy was often dependent on the availability and interest of city
and country reporters. As the number of revivals and conversion statistics are key
components of the thesis, some comment on their collection and use is necessary.
Data Gathering and Treatment
Denominational periodicals provided the main source for conversion data and
reports of revivals. A meticulous examination of every available issue of the South
Australian Methodist denominational papers from 1838 to 1939 provided the
necessary figures and reports of revivalist activity. This data and selected
information, arranged sequentially, comprises a Chronology of Revival Events 18381939, as Appendix 1. In order to arrange and analyse the historical record, this study
adopts Steve Latham’s taxonomy, comprising the R1 to R6 typology of six forms of
revival. 73 Latham’s expansionist typology accommodates different understandings
of revival from an individual ‘spiritual quickening’ to a ‘possible reversal of
secularisation’. There are three reasons why this methodology is helpful for this
study.
First, this typology overcomes the limitation of restricting the term ‘revival’ to
only those events that meet arbitrary numerical criteria. It also accommodates all
revival-type events that were reported as ‘revivals’. This is of benefit in notating the
many revivals that took place in small to medium-sized rural and township
communities, often homogeneous in nature, with various societal levels of face-toface encounter. The high level of intimacy often associated with small rural
townships of no more than a few hundred people, despite its often intrusive nature,
was expedient for the demands of ‘experimental religion’, which in Methodism in
part, was prescribed by personal testimony and enquiry within the class meeting.
Revivalist fervour and Methodist polity were willing co-participants in the quest for
conversionist vital religion within a widely dispersed rural community.
of the Diary is held at the Flinders University of South Australia.
73
Steve Latham, “‘God came from Teman’: Revival and Contemporary Revivalism”, in Andrew
Walker and Kristin Aune (eds.), On Revival: A Critical Examination, 171-186. The typology is
outlined at the beginning of Appendix 1.
19
Second, the classification allows for a differentiation between ‘revival’ as a
spontaneous, sent from above (God at work) event, and ‘revivalism’ as evangelical
activism to produce ‘a revival [which] is the result of the right use of the appropriate
means’.74 The analysis, therefore, excludes neither God’s sovereignty nor human
agency. To exclude one or the other, would allow for a reductionism that the
evidence neither demands nor warrants. Both forms of revival, whether influenced by
Calvinism or Arminianism, and recognised within South Australian Methodism, are
thus included:
It is true that in the history of the Churches revivals have come in which the
instruments have not been recognizable; they have seemed to come from
God unasked and unexpected by His people. But, on the other hand, revivals
have mostly come by the blessing of God through human means, and human
seeking, and human effort. The only revivals which we can with certainty
expect are such as the Church lays herself out to secure.75
Third, Latham’s typology allows for changes in the meaning of the term
‘revival’, which in practice, Latham acknowledges as ‘slippery’. Consequently, this
makes due allowance for the commentator to ‘slide easily from one level to another’.
This, suggests Latham, accounts for the difference in understanding between speaker
and hearer, and gives credibility to the varying claims made by the revivalist,
commentator, and hearer.76
Data Analysis
In order to determine the relative ‘converting activity’ for each revival-type
event, a ‘Conversion Index’, calculated by expressing the number of conversions as a
74
Steve Latham, “‘God came from Teman’: Revival and Contemporary Revivalism”, in Andrew
Walker and Kristin Aune (eds.), On Revival: A Critical Examination, 175. Charles G. Finney,
Lectures on Revivals of Religion, Oberlin, Ohio, E. J. Goodrich, 1868, 13. This is the fundamental
premise of Finney’s Lectures on Revivals of Religion. For a critique of ‘revival’ and ‘revivalism’,
focussing on Jonathan Edwards and Charles G. Finney see, Gerald L. Priest, ‘Revival and Revivalism:
A Historical and Doctrinal Evaluation’, Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal, vol. 1 (Fall 1996), 223-252.
Priest claims that ‘true revival is a work originating solely with God’ (225). His analysis of Edwards
and Finney leads him to that conclusion. For a more recent discussion on ‘revivals’ and ‘revivalism’,
see John Wolffe, The Expansion of Evangelicalism, 43-90. For an account of Finney’s life see Keith J.
Hardeman, Charles Grandison Finney 1792-1875: Revivalist and Reformer, Grand Rapids, Baker
Book House, 1987.
75
Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church, Minutes of South Australia Conference of the, 1883,
annual address to members, 45-46.
76
Steve Latham, “‘God came from Teman’: Revival and Contemporary Revivalism”, in Andrew
Walker and Kristin Aune (eds.), On Revival: A Critical Examination, 172.
20
percentage of total denominational membership, is shown as Appendix 2. The
relative index situates each revival event within its denominational context and
provides a crude but helpful measure of the effectiveness of each revival. An
‘Annual Conversion Index’ (ACI) for all recorded conversions in the Methodist
denominations in each year is shown as Appendix 3. Graphs of the respective ACIs
are shown as Appendices 4-1 and 4-2 and clearly indicate levels of converting
activity over time.77
Furthermore, by examining the relationships between conversions and
membership statistics, and the location and frequency of revivalist activity, we can
draw reasonable conclusions about the contributions that revivalist-conversions made
to membership growth. A comparative analysis between city and country revivalism
furthers our understanding on the relationship between the two regions, and overall,
why rural revivalism pre-dominated in South Australian Methodism. The pattern of
these revivals is traced through the annual returns of membership and reported
conversions. The internal dynamic of conversion as a methodological tool to analyse
revivals lies outside the scope of this study. This is because of a lack of conversion
narratives within the primary sources examined.
The ready availability of Census data since 1844 for South Australia provided
figures for self-described religious adherence data against which to compare the
figures for church membership and to make comparative observations between
Methodism and other Christian denominations. 78 The lack of church-published
statistics prior to the 1850s required an examination of the secular newspapers to
provide detail not available elsewhere.
Form of Argument
The argument is presented in narrative form, which, because of the lengthy
period covered, presents a selective overview of both statistics and topics relevant to
the argument, whilst the method employed is largely inductive. Analysis of the
conversion and membership statistics enables an evaluation of revivalism, and
77
For a more detailed explanation of the conversion indexes, see chapter 3.
Census data and incomplete denominational membership data is provided in Wray Vamplew, ed.,
Australians: Historical Statistics (Sydney: Fairfax, Syme and Weldon Associates, 1987).
78
21
whether Methodists pursued revivalist conversion as the gateway to vital religion.
Upcoming Chapters
Chapter 1 contextualises colonial Methodist revivalism within a larger
international framework. The foundations of Methodism encouraged the movement’s
expansive and revivalist ethos, while the relevance of an internationalist ‘Methodist
Pattern of Revival’ is examined.79 Methodists, eager for spiritual revival looked for it
within the smallest spiritual provision.
Chapter 2 demonstrates that revivalism was present in seed form within early
Methodism. The first expression of revivalism occurred in 1838 and produced the
earliest known converts, thereby adding spiritual and numerical traction to the initial
establishment and early expansion of Methodist ‘vital religion’. In addition to a
religious emphasis on conversion, early Methodism calibrated the social dimension
of its message to include such matters as temperance and Sabbath observance, partly
out of a pragmatic necessity to help establish the early components of a well-ordered,
stable and industrious colony.
Chapter 3 examines the establishment and expansion of revivalism by a statistical
analysis of revival activity from 1838 to 1865. The chapter demonstrates that
revivalism produced the converts necessary for the instigation and expansion of vital
religion.
Chapter 4 advances the argument that revivalist conversions were central to the
quest for vital religion. We see how the Burra and associated Central Hill Country
revivals of 1858 to 1860, influenced by the revivalist dimension of evangelical
internationalism and examined as a mini-study within the thesis, consolidates
revivalist momentum within colonial Methodism. By 1860, Methodist vital religion
is imbued with an indefatigable belief in the validity and expectation of further
revivals.
Chapter 5 provides a statistical analysis of revivalism from 1866 to 1913. We see
how conversions enabled Methodism to expand vigorously its self-described
79
As outlined by David Bebbington in Victorian Religious Revivals, 9-11.
22
population and maintain relative parity between its membership growth and the
increase in overall population. By 1911, ascendant revivalism propelled Methodism
to first place in a list of Christian denominations in South Australia according to size.
This membership (19,262) was well ahead of the Anglicans (15,589 communicants)
the second largest denomination. Overall, Methodism commanded the allegiance of
one-quarter of the state’s census population. The period blended international
evangelist activity with local revivalists, and saw the introduction of the Gospeltemperance message by the Wesleyan Matthew Burnett. Prominent among the local
revivalists were the ‘lady evangelists’ of the 1890s, used predominantly by the Bible
Christians, and the establishment of Conference evangelists within both Wesleyan
Methodism and the Bible Christians. These measures facilitated the predominance of
the locally-planned rural revival over that of the city counterpart, and further
illustrated the value of revivalist activity to deliver subsequent waves of converts.
Chapter 6 examines the consolidation of revivalist inclusivity in the quest for
‘vital religion’. Methodism innovated in its use of revivalist lay-leadership to expand
beyond the bounds of the traditional circuit environment.
Chapter 7 identifies some of the external intellectual challenges faced by
Methodism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and their effect on
revivalism. Furthermore, we see how Methodist revival activity was also affected by
internal challenges such as the continued prosecution of the denomination’s moral
reform program.
Chapter 8 examines the Chapman and Alexander missions of 1909 and 1912. In
the aftermath of the Welsh Revival of 1905, many looked to Chapman and
Alexander as the instigators of a national revival of religion. Despite large
attendances and numerous conversions, their visits effectively marked the end of
widespread support for the international revivalist as the appointed harbinger of
revival.
Chapter 9 demonstrates that despite the evangelistic success of Lionel Fletcher
in 1915, and in the aftermath of diminished revivalism during the First World War,
the marginalisation of revivalism was well underway by the early 1920s. In the
23
absence of a confident, well-supported, effective, revivalist strategy supported by
Conference, revivalism faltered.
Chapter 10 focuses on the emergence of early Pentecostalism in the 1920s,
which, despite its close historic relationship to Methodism, benefitted from the
latter’s adaptation to a more settled form of an established and respectable
evangelical church. The inter-war period documents the shift in Methodism away
from centre-stage as the flag-bearer of revivalist conversion. It was unable to reassert its revivalist credentials in the face of intensified evangelical fragmentation,
internal uncertainty, and the rise of other revivalist agencies.
Chapters 11 and 12 examine how Methodism attempted to pursue traditional
forms of revivalism while it experimented with and adapted newer forms, typified by
the group-centred Oxford Movement, reminiscent of an earlier era dominated by the
membership-required class meeting. In Chapter 12, we analyse the factors that led to
the decline of revivalism before the Second World War, particularly the
fundamentalist-modernist debates of the 1920s and 1930s. By 1939, despite brief
moments of revivalist zeal producing conversions, the inability of Methodism to
produce converts was apparently clear. In the previous twenty-five years,
conversions accounted for marginally less than one-half of the membership growth,
while from 1866 to 1901 there were two and a half times more conversions than
membership additions.80 Clearly, the doctrine of salvation that insisted on the
efficacy of personal conversion as the gateway of ‘vital religion’ was not the only
way to enter one’s name on the membership roll. Methodist ‘vital religion’ was
losing its ‘vitality’ and spiritual potentiality because of a diminished emphasis on
conversionism.
80
The statistical analysis is outlined at the beginning of Chapter 9.
24
PART I 1838 – 1865
CHAPTER 1
METHODIST FOUNDATIONS AND REVIVALISM
The allied partnership of religious revival and evangelicalism was common
within British and North American Evangelicalism.1 The revival of religion in all its
forms was always at the centre of evangelicalism.2 According to D. W. Bebbington,
evangelicals in the late nineteenth century ‘continued to display much of the vigour
they had inherited from the Evangelical Revival. They were still concerned above all
with the cultivation of vital Christianity’.3 Within South Australian Methodism, the
argument is made that revivalism was an essential component of vital religion, which
this thesis will establish.
Methodist revivalism was a feature of denominational growth in other
nineteenth-century Australian colonies as well. In New South Wales and
Queensland, the Conference sanctioned and commended such activity to the Circuits
in its charge. 4 David Bollen observed that Methodists in New South Wales were the
most determined and successful of all denominations in revival activity.5 Revivals
produced conversions, and subsequent growth in membership, though they were
often uneven, sporadic, and affected by economic and other factors.6
In 1853, the Rev. Robert Young, as representative of the British Wesleyan
Conference, inspected the Wesleyan Methodist churches in all the Australian
colonies to determine whether to grant connexional independence from the British
Conference. A representative told Young, during a reception in Melbourne in June
1853, in front of 500 people, that the infant Methodist Church would ‘be the means
1
Bebbington, The Dominance of Evangelicalism, 2005; Noll, The Rise of Evangelicalism, 2004;
Wolffe, The Expansion of Evangelicalism, 2006.
2
Noll, The Rise of Evangelicalism, 69.
3
Bebbington, The Dominance of Evangelicalism, 235.
4
Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church, Proceedings of the New South Wales and Queensland
Conference, 1877, 52-54; 1884, 22.
5
J. D. Bollen, Religion in Australian Society: An Historian’s View, (Enfield, NSW: Leigh College,
1973), 27-28.
6
R. B. Walker, ‘The Growth and Typology of the Wesleyan Methodist Church in New South Wales
1812-1901’, 337-338.
25
of the conversion of multitudes’, because it had been built on a strong foundation.7
Before an examination of the nature and extent of revivalism in the period from 1838
to 1939 is undertaken, it is necessary to consider the nature of this foundation. This
chapter will examine some of the key foundational elements within South Australian
Methodism, which were conducive to the practice of revivalism.8
Organisational Structure
First, the organisational structure of Methodism suited its expansive ethos.9
Before his death in 1791, John Wesley’s ‘chief concern was the preservation of his
highly successful evangelistic organisation’.10 Methodism’s organisational structure,
which operated in a connexional, or inter-linked manner, attempted to maintain its
evangelistic work.11 As converts were linked together in class meetings and societies
they developed local religious identity. Later, the connexional system provided the
Methodist with an expanded identity through its circuit, district, and conference
structures. The organisational structure supported local preachers and circuit itinerant
ministers, and was well suited to dispersed and thinly populated regions.12 By the end
of the nineteenth-century, connexionalism had made the task of spreading scriptural
holiness throughout South Australia ‘more complete than could have otherwise been
7
Robert Young, The Southern World: Journal of a Deputation from the Wesleyan Conference to
Australia and Polynesia: including Notices of a visit to the Gold Fields (London: Hamilton, Adams,
and Co., 1854), 73. See also W. H. Daniels, The Illustrated History of Methodism in Great Britain,
America, and Australia from the Days of the Wesleys to the Present Year (New York: Hunt & Eaton,
1890), 800-801. SAWM, April 1874, 17. Young was the one-man delegation sent from England. The
‘Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Connexion’ was constituted by the British Conference in 1854
(with effect from 1855) as a distinct and ‘affiliated’ entity of the English Conference. From 1815 (the
arrival of Samuel Leigh in Sydney) until 1855, the Methodist Church in Australia was under the
control of the Missionary Committee in London. In 1855, South Australia was one of nine districts
with all chairmen appointed by the Australasian Conference. In 1874, four annual Conferences: New
South Wales and Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania, South Australia (and Western Australia), and
New Zealand, and a General Conference were established. This continued until Methodist Union in
1900. The ‘Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church’ held its first South Australian Conference in
1874.
8
I am indebted to David Bebbington’s analysis of the ‘Methodist Pattern of Revival’ in developing
this chapter. See Bebbington, Victorian Religious Revivals, 9-11.
9
SAWM, ‘The Connexional Principle’, August 1865, 146.
10
Robert Currie, Methodism Divided: A Study in the Sociology of Ecumenicalism (London: Faber &
Faber, 1968), 26.
11
Russell E. Richey, ‘Connection and Connectionalism’, in William J. Abraham and James E. Kirby,
eds. The Oxford Handbook of Methodist Studies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 211-227.
12
SAWM, August 1865, 145-147.
26
possible’.13
Local preachers were able to establish churches as they gathered people together
and exercised governmental and oversight functions, whilst awaiting a minister.14
This ensured regular pulpit supply, consistent doctrinal teaching, and produced ‘the
most vigorous and successful agencies for unlimited extension’.15 Held generally in
high regard, local preachers, according to the Rev. John Watsford, were ‘worthy of
double honour’, without whose help Methodism was confined to a ‘crippled’ and
‘dwarfed’ state.16 The constitution of Methodism favoured growth, promoted the
expansion of its footprint through its societies, classes, Sunday schools, love feasts,
camp meetings, hymns, and written material, designed to foster scriptural holiness
despite the lack of egalitarianism within its leadership structure; it ‘was hierarchical,
even authoritarian’.17
Lay leadership was fundamental in enabling Methodism to achieve a physical
presence that maintained pace with the expansion of European settlement throughout
the colony. Primitive Methodist lay leadership emerged well before the first
missionaries arrived in 1844. John Wiltshire, supported by his wife and relatives,
conducted the first Primitive Methodist service in Light Square in June 1840. Aided
by the help of both male and female co-workers in preaching, the group maintained
regular worship, class meetings, and open-air work for the next four years, and
managed to build a primitive structure for 120 people in Elizabeth Street. Within
nine months, the society had seven local preachers and sixteen members, and a
Sunday school established with twenty scholars.18 Preaching places opened in the
suburbs, and at Mount Barker, the first preaching station outside of Adelaide, all
13
Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church, Minutes of South Australia Conference, 1897, 104.
John Blacket, The Early History of South Australia: A Romantic Experiment in Colonization 18361857 (Adelaide: Methodist Book Depot, 1907), 306.
15
SAWM, August 1865, 146. Local preachers were subject to the discipline of the circuit local
preachers’ meetings. In addition to doctrinal matters, regular reviews of the conduct and performance
of Local Preachers took place at such meetings. See W.S. Kelly, Early History of the Kapunda
Methodist Circuit (Adelaide: South Australian Methodist Historical Society, 1959), n.p.
16
Watsford, Glorious Gospel Triumphs, 124. On the honour and respect accorded to Local Preachers,
see Kelly, Early History of the Kapunda Methodist Circuit, n.p.
17
David Hempton, ‘John Wesley (1703-1791)’, in Carter Lindberg, ed. The Pietist Theologians: An
Introduction to Theology in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (Oxford: Blackwell, 2005),
259.
18
SAPM, July 1894, 50-51.
14
27
organised and resourced by lay leaders.19 Lay leaders managed the first recorded
Wesleyan revival in June 1838, two months before the unexpected arrival of the Rev.
William Longbottom, and they played a prominent role during the second Wesleyan
revival in 1840-41, during the ministry of the second Wesleyan minister, the Rev.
John Eggleston.20
Members of the Methodist New Connexion established a presence in Hobson’s
Place, Adelaide, with the building of a wooden structure in early 1840. The cause
grew to forty by 1842, but it had almost dwindled away by 1862 when its first
minister, James Maughan, arrived and formally constituted the church with a
membership of twelve. 21 Bible Christians were among the first settlers to arrive in
the colony; some joined in with the Wesleyans whilst others held services at
‘Bowden, Kooringa, and elsewhere’ in the 1840s. The influx of Cornish miners to
work the Kapunda copper mines from 1844, and Burra from 1845, saw the first
substantial influx of Bible Christians. In 1849, the local preacher, James Blatchford,
established a Bible Christian congregation at Burra. Like many Methodist local
preachers at the time, Blatchford may have lacked secular learning (he had never
been to school and started working at the age of seven), but he brimmed in Biblical
knowledge. He was able to quote from memory almost any passage from the Bible.22
Blatchford and lay helpers finished construction of the church building by the time
their first pioneering ministers, James Way and James Rowe, arrived in the colony in
late 1850. They found a well-established church of 50 members.23 The founding of
the Jubilee Chapel at Long Gully in the Adelaide Hills in 1863 as part of the Mount
Barker Circuit amply illustrates how Methodism expanded through the efforts of lay
people:
Near two years ago, Mr Henry Adams was riding homewards to Callington
19
ACC, 1 November 1935, 3.
Nock, The Life of Pastor Abbott, 16; ACC, 28 May 1937, 2; James Bickford, Christian Work in
Australasia: With Notes on the Settlement and Progress of the Colonies (London: Wesleyan
Conference, 1878), 142; James Haslam, History of Wesleyan Methodism in South Australia: From its
Commencement to its Jubilee (Adelaide: South Australian Methodist Historical Society, 1958), 66;
ACC, 26 July 1901, 5. The first recorded Methodist revival in the oldest colony, New South Wales,
founded in 1788, occurred at Sydney in 1835. See Bollen, Religion in Australian Society, 27.
21
Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 53-54.
22
Burra Record, 18 September 1900, 3. Obituary – James Blatchford.
23
H.T. Burgess, ed., Cyclopedia of South Australia, vol. 2 (Adelaide: Cyclopedia Company, 1909),
49. Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 62-70.
20
28
through the above Gully. One of the settlers knowing him to be a local
preacher, asked if it would not be possible to hold service in that
neighbourhood, at least once on the Sabbath; at the same time, offering to
open her house for the accommodation of the people. At the next local
preachers’ meeting, Mr. Kempster’s house was placed upon the plan. The
settlers generally attended the services, and the house was soon
inconveniently crowded. It was then proposed to build a chapel. Mr. Weber
most liberally offered to build the walls gratuitously, others engaged to raise
and cart the stone, lime, and timber. In March last the chapel was opened,
the congregations were large, and the tea and public meeting most
successful. A class has also been formed which is met by the local preachers
on the Sabbath. The organisation of Methodism, is wisely adapted to supply
the wants of such sparse populations as the above localities.24
The energy and vitality of the Methodist constituency was also seen in the
settlement of farming communities in the Adelaide Hills, which foreshadowed the
denomination’s rural expansion northwards in the 1870s and 1880s. ‘Lay agency’
and the ‘elasticity of its organisation’ were important factors.25 At times, the
exuberance displayed by Methodist groups became almost overwhelming. An
observant country editor in 1880 mused over Wesleyan chapel extension:
Everybody knows that they are indefatigable in their efforts, and persistent
in their exploration of new districts, in which they usually begin sticking up
a wooden chapel before the traditional pub and blacksmith’s shop have their
roof on.26
The home mission zeal of Methodists often dissipated into competition between
Methodist denominations, and on occasions with other religious bodies.
Furthermore, the limited education of many local preachers was no barrier to workers
in the labour-intensive industries such as mining and agriculture, upon which the
colony was so dependent. According to one estimate, 23 per cent of the colony’s
total population could neither read nor write in 1890.27 Fortunately, lay agency did
not often require higher levels of literacy, and theological and biblical scholarship.
Lay people from the outset of colonial Methodism, were accordingly able to provide
the leadership upon which periodic revivals depended, a scenario that repeated itself
many times in the next 100 years.
24
SAWM, April 1865, 109.
Burgess ed., Cyclopedia of South Australia, vol. 2, 48. This was the view of the Methodist minister,
H. T. Burgess.
26
Jamestown Review, 29 January 1880.
27
In 1890, the population of the colony was 279,865, of whom 64,541 (23 per cent), it was claimed,
could neither read nor write. A further 15,267 could only read. See SAPM, April 1890, 342.
25
29
Emphasis on Conversion
The second foundational element within South Australian Methodism which
aided revivalism was the emphasis on the need for conversion. The ‘Large’ Minutes
of the 1763 Methodist Conference contain the Rules for Helpers (preachers), which
those who laboured with Wesley were required to embrace. Number Eleven sets
forth the driving motivation of a Methodist preacher:
You have nothing to do but to save souls. Therefore spend and be spent in
this work; and go always, not only to those who want [i.e., need] you, but to
those who want you most.28
Heitzenrater contends that ‘this represents Wesley’s commitment to the revival, a
lifelong vocation and mission’.29 Of the Twelve Rules for Helpers, Number Eleven
was the most often quoted at Methodist Services of Ordination and as such, was part
of the fabric of nineteenth-century South Australian Methodism.30 The importance of
a personal conversion experience and its relationship to the Methodist ministry is
typified in the life of James Bickford (1816-1895). He was converted at sixteen after
he became aware of his ‘lost condition when alone on a dark night in a bye lane near
my Uncle Taylor’s farm, Sherford Down, in the parish of Sherford. And on that very
hour my mind was decided on the vital question of religion’.31 The experience of
religious conversion, of having his soul saved, led him to join the Methodist Church,
after which he became a Wesleyan minister. He once described himself as an
‘evangelical and soul-saving’ preacher.32
In 1874, the South Australian Wesleyan Methodist Conference reviewed the
evangelistic work of the Church in the previous twelve months, and regretted the
lack of conversions. Conference then urged the church ‘to aim more directly than
ever at the declaration of souls in all our ministrations’.33 English and Australian
28
Richard P. Heitzenrater, ‘John Wesley’s Principles and Practice of Preaching’, Methodist History,
vol. 37, no. 2 (January 1999): 89-106, 90.
29
Heitzenrater, ‘John Wesley’s Principles and Practice of Preaching’, 90.
30
See for example, SAPMR, April 1876, 375; October 1877, 133.
31
James Bickford, An Autobiography of Christian Labour (London: Charles H. Kelly, 1890), 6.
32
Bickford came to South Australia from Victoria in 1873, and held appointments at Pirie Street,
Burra and Port Adelaide. He was President of the Australasian Conference in 1868 and then of the
Wesleyan church in South Australia in 1875 and 1883. On Bickford, see Arnold D. Hunt, ‘Bickford,
James (1816-1895)’, ADEB, 41; Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 132-133.
33
Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Connexion, Minutes of South Australia Conference, 1874, 18,
30
Methodism well understood the link between conversion and revivals so that by the
middle of the nineteenth-century, ‘the main vehicle for conversion was the revival’.34
Two-thirds of the thirty-to-forty who attended a picnic for members of the Wesleyan,
Bible Christian, and Primitive Methodist Conferences held at Brighton in Adelaide in
February 1900 dated their conversions from revivals. Another 25 per cent ‘owed
much to religious instruction received at other religious bodies’, while ‘many
attributed their great change of life to the example and prayers of godly mothers’.35
Reflecting on the conversions that had taken place in the revival in the Mount
Torrens Bible Christian Circuit in 1877, it was reported that, ‘a revival of true
religion does more to increase the strength of the Church, and arouse a careless,
impenitent neighbourhood than anything else’.36 South Australian Methodism
understood that revivals of religion produced converts.37
Vision and Resources
The third aspect of Methodism’s foundation in South Australia, which aided
revivalism, was its ability to marry vision with resources. Aided by the astute and
visionary land purchase policy of the Rev. Daniel Draper (1810-1866), Wesleyan
Methodism, by the mid 1850s, extended its presence throughout the colony. Under
his leadership, the church in the late 1840s purchased forty-six sites and erected
thirty-eight chapels by 1854 – this increased the number of chapels from eight to
thirty-eight. During his time in South Australia between 1846 and 1854, Draper
presided over an increase in circuits from one to six, from three ministers to ten, and
from 390 to 1,506 members. Sunday school scholars increased from 613 to 2,727,
and attendants on public worship from 2,200 to 9,830.38 Later generations of
Methodists held Draper in high esteem and considered him the ‘Second Founder of
Methodism in South Australia’, a ‘wise administrator and the master builder of our
SLSA SRG 4/1/1, vol. 1.
34
Jennifer Lloyd, ‘Women Preachers in the Bible Christian Connexion’, Albion: A Quarterly Journal
Concerned with British Studies, vol. 36, no. 3 (Autumn 2004): 474.
35
Register, 14 March 1900, 9.
36
SABCM, November 1877, 362; February 1878, 384-385.
37
SAPMR, July 1876, 393-400.
38
John C. Symons, Life of Rev. D. J. Draper (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1870), 128. Hunt, This
Side of Heaven, 73.
31
Church in this colony’.39
In the early 1850s, the Bible Christian minister, James Rowe, buoyed by an
increase in church membership, remained in Burra during the exodus to the Victorian
goldfields, and committed himself to expand the Methodist cause. In 1853, he wrote
in visionary terms to the Missionary Committee in England: ‘We should rise with the
increase of population…We should rise with rising townships and
neighbourhoods’.40 The Wesleyan Conference of 1875 established the ‘Home
Mission and Contingent Fund Society’ to raise funds throughout the connexion for
church extension, thereby formalising the legacy of Draper and the early pioneering
Wesleyans.41 It was a legacy aptly expressed by the Rev. John C. Symons in his
biography of Draper published in 1870:
I believe that in no part of the Christian world, excepting the United States,
is there to be found so large a proportion of Wesleyan Methodists to the
population, as in South Australia. A result as greatly due to the energy,
liberality, and devoted labours of the officers and members of the societies,
as to the zeal, ability, and untiring services of the ministers: a result which,
under God, could have only been accomplished by united continuous,
systematic, hearty co-operation of both ministers and people.42
Freedom to Express Emotions
The fourth foundational element within South Australian Methodism which aided
revivalism was that people could clearly express their emotions. Expressive piety
found ready acceptance among many South Australian Methodists, with deep roots
that went back to John Wesley’s ‘strong conviction that religious excitement,
however messy, was preferable to religious dullness and apathy, however
orthodox’.43 At a revival that broke out in Bowden Bible Christian Church in 1855,
‘for weeks in succession men and women, lads and girls wept and prayed their way
39
W.T. Shapley, ‘Our Methodist Centenary’, ACC, 25 October 1935, 3. Shapley was President of the
South Australian Methodist Conference in 1923.
40
Letter from James Rowe, 6 June 1853 to Missionary Committee, in the Bible Christian Magazine,
(London: Partridge and Oakey, for the Bible Christian Book Committee, 1853), 477.
41
Australian Wesleyan Methodist Connexion, Minutes of South Australia Conference, 1875, 33,
SLSA SRG 4/1/1, Vol. 1.
42
Symons, Life of Rev. D. J. Draper, 128.
43
David Hempton, Methodism: Empire of the Spirit (New Haven and London: Yale University Press,
2005), 40. Quote only attributed to Hempton.
32
to the Saviour’.44 During a revival in the Bible Christian Mount Lofty Circuit in
1877, ‘strong men cried like children to see the bright faces and to hear the prayers
and the clear testimony of the young converts’.45 The visit of the Temperance
Evangelist, Matthew Burnett, to the Willunga district in July 1882, engendered a
spontaneous communal outpouring of unabashed self-expression, when, during the
journey from Willunga to Adelaide, a distance of fifty kilometres, Burnett recorded:
All along the line of route we were cheered by those whose hands we
grasped, perhaps for the last time, who with tearful eyes assured us that
under God they and their families were completely changed since they
signed the pledge.46
The straight-from-the heart spoken testimonies of the Mount Lofty children were
influential in their effects, while the Burnett procession moved many, including those
who had not attended the meetings, to outward forms of impassioned display.
Adelaide city and inner suburban locations caught up in local revival gatherings also
participated in excitable displays of ‘much weeping and great joy’; while for the
usually more restrained Wesleyans ‘almost every night [at the seaside settlement of
Glenelg] there was heard the cry of the penitent and the rejoicing of the new-born
soul’. 47 Although levels of intensity varied, and were transitory in nature, emotions
such as spontaneous joy, weeping, crying, and cheering were ‘part of a new religious
self-understanding’; evidence of unrestrained emotive self-expression.48
Arminian Theology
The fifth foundational element was that Arminian theology suited the revivalist
cause. The second annual Conference of united Methodism, held in Adelaide in
1901, declared that the ‘Mission of Methodism to the New Century’ contained three
components: an intellectual mission, a social mission, and a spiritual mission. The
spiritual mission included the ‘proclamation’ of a ‘free, full, present salvation from
ACC, 6 October 1911, 8.
SABCMag, November 1877, 360-361; ACC, 8 June 1906, 3.
46
CW&MJ, 4 August 1882, 3.
47
PMR, 21 July 1883, 3; CW&MJ, 6 August 1886, 6-7.
48
D. Bruce Hindmarsh, The Evangelical Conversion Narrative: Spiritual Autobiography in Early
Modern England (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 135. On the role of emotions in early
Methodism, see Phyllis Mack, Heart Religion in the British Enlightenment: Gender and Emotion in
Early Methodism (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008).
44
45
33
all sin, for all sinners for ever’.49 This component was distinctly Arminian in nature.
John and Charles Wesley (1707-1788) taught that a present salvation was open to all,
not restricted by limited atonement to a select few. This contrasted with the
Reformed doctrine of particular redemption, often associated with the writings of the
Genevan theologian John Calvin, and the preaching of the eighteenth-century
English Calvinist George Whitefield.50 The doctrine of universal redemption, that all
could be saved, is stated with force in the final verse of Charles Wesley’s hymn:
Would Jesus Have the Sinner Die?
O let thy love my heart constrain,
Thy love for every sinner free,
That every fallen soul of man,
May taste the grace that found out me;
That all mankind with me may prove
Thy sovereign everlasting love.51
In the light of this significant and influential ‘for all’ doctrine, it was imperative
that Gospel proclamation must, wherever possible, follow the expansion of the
colony’s settlement. The universal relevance of Methodism’s message was
transmitted through the churches and congregations formed wherever settlement took
place. Seventy years after the settlement began, revivalist activity and hymnody,
according to the Rev. Brian Wibberley (1866-1944), Primitive Methodist minister
prior to Union in 1900, and one of the great preachers of the early twentieth century,
was still an important medium for the message as it helped to guarantee growth:
The genius of revival is simply this: a session of deepened spiritual
consciousness, followed by a season of religious expansion.52
Another aspect of Arminian soteriology was Wesley’s insistence that a lack of
49
Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church, Minutes of South Australia Conference (Second
Conference of the United Church), 1901, 43.
50
‘Arminianism’ takes its name from Jakob Arminius (1560-1609) who taught that salvation was
available to all persons through trust in Christ. For a biography on Arminius, see Carl Bangs,
Arminius: A Study in the Dutch Reformation (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 1998). For a theological
account, see Keith D. Stanglin and Thomas H. McCall, Jacob Arminius: Theologian of Grace
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012).
51
A Collection of Hymns for the use of the People Called Methodists (London: Wesleyan Conference
Office, 1900), Hymn 33.
52
Brian Wibberley, Marks of Methodism and Other Studies (Adelaide: Whillas and Ormiston, 1905),
125. Wibberley, a Bachelor of Music, was appointed to the ‘cathedral pulpit’ of Primitive Methodism
at Wellington Square, North Adelaide, from 1898-1902. On Wibberley, see Lewis Kelsall, The
Romance of Faith: Brian Wibberley (Adelaide: Uniting Church Historical Society South Australia,
1998).
34
assurance indicated a falling away from the faith, a backslidden condition in which a
lack of practical love was a sign.53 According to Wesley, the doctrine of assurance
emphasised ‘an inward impression on the soul, whereby the Spirit of God directly
witnesses to my spirit, that I am a child of God’.54 The conviction of assurance,
however, was always prone to regression: a fear that the believer might be falling
from grace.55 To counter this required a disciplined way of life as one ‘working out
your salvation’, which Maddox succinctly termed, ‘responsible grace’.56 Believers
could determine their standing with God through periodic self-examination and, if
required, the convert could re-convert, perhaps in a later revival.57 During the visit of
the temperance evangelist Matthew Burnett to the Wesleyan Church at Brompton in
1880 it was reported that ‘eighty-eight persons are known to have found Christ, or
restored from backsliding’.58 Revivalism was well suited to Arminian theology.
Doctrine of Christian Perfection
The sixth foundational element of Methodism which suited revivalism was
Wesley’s doctrine of Christian perfection or entire sanctification. Wesley preferred
the term ‘perfect love’.59 For Wesley, the first stage in the Christian life was
conversion, the result of justification by faith; the second, subsequent to conversion,
in which ‘those who were fully consecrated [to God] committed no known sin and so
their state was one of Christian perfection’.60 The two attainable stages are best
outlined by Wesley: ‘that Christians are saved in this world from all sin, from all
unrighteousness; that they are now in such a sense perfect, as not to commit sin, and
to be freed from evil thoughts and evil tempers’.61 For some in the nineteenth
53
Richard P. Heitzenrater, ‘The Founding Brothers’, in William J. Abraham and James E. Kirby eds.,
The Oxford Handbook of Methodist Studies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 30-50, 47.
54
John Wesley, ‘The Witness of the Spirit’, in John Wesley’s Forty-Four Sermons (London: Epworth
Press, 1977), 115.
55
Randy L. Maddox, Responsible Grace: John Wesley’s Practical Theology (Nashville: Abingdon,
1994), 164.
56
The ‘working out your salvation’ is from Philippians 2:14. Maddox, Responsible Grace.
57
SAWM, August 1865, 158.
58
MJ, 6 August 1880, 7.
59
Glen O’Brien, ‘Christian Perfection and Australian Methodism’, 234-247. On the Methodist
holiness tradition, see Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, 153-155.
60
David Bebbington, ed., Protestant Nonconformist Texts Volume 3: The Nineteenth Century
(Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006), 174.
61
John Wesley’s sermon, ‘Christian Perfection’, Sermon XXXV, in John Wesley’s Forty-Four
Sermons (London: Epworth Press, 1977), 476. Despite much criticism over the doctrine, particularly
35
century, although the experience came at the same time as conversion, and was
attained by faith, it came more because of the steady and protracted growth in
overcoming inward sin in the life of believers, as they grew in love for God and
others.62
Wesley considered the doctrine of Christian perfection as ‘the grand depositum
which God has lodged with the people called Methodists; and for the sake of
propagating this chiefly He appears to have raised us up’.63 The doctrine was aften
proclaimed in annual addresses of the various Methodist Conferences, in which the
church members were ‘urged to seek holiness’, and, as it was ‘proven by experience
to be attainable’ it was declared to be ‘the charta of Methodism – to spread scriptural
holiness throughout the land’.64
Because Christian perfection could be lost from the life of the believer, this
doctrine had important implications for the Methodist revivalist tradition.65 In 1865,
during the opening services for Kent Town Wesleyan Church, the popular visiting
American revivalist, the Rev. William ‘California’ Taylor, exhorted the large
congregation to ‘be ye holy’, which he claimed was a ‘command conveyed in the
words of the text’.66 Taylor visited many towns in South Australia and included calls
for salvation as well as injunctions to holiness.67 Thus, in revivals there was often a
call to conversion followed by a call to Christian perfection; the latter appealed to
those who had the assurance of salvation, but whose lives were not wholly sanctified.
The quest for Christian perfection often brought on a crisis, which was resolved
during special revival services through the targeted teaching and appeal of the
preacher. For example, at special services held in Willunga in 1887 by the Bible
Christian Conference Evangelist, the Rev. C. Tresise, ‘over thirty gave their hearts to
over use of the word ‘perfection’, the sermon first published in 1741 remained his standard treatise of
the subject.
62
Bebbington, Holiness in Nineteenth-Century England, 62.
63
Ralph Kirby, ed., The Methodist Bedside Book (London: Hulton, 1954), 113, cited in Hunt, This
Side of Heaven, 24. See also, Abraham, ‘Christian Perfection’, 594.
64
Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church, Minutes of South Australia Conference, 1876, 28-33;
Methodist Church of Australasia, Minutes of South Australia Conference, 1901, 44.
65
Bebbington, Holiness in Nineteenth-Century England, 63.
66
South Australian Register, 11 August 1865, 3; SAWM, August 1865, 154.
67
For example, at Strathalbyn in October 1865, Taylor exhorted a crowd of one thousand assembled
in a wheat store to, ‘go on unto perfection’. See SAWM, January 1866, 16.
36
Christ, and several came for the blessing of perfect love’.68 The compatible
handmaidens of conversion and the holiness tradition prospered in the revivalist
cause, because of the almost undue reverence Methodism gave to its ‘remorseless
emphasis on scriptural holiness’.69
‘Special Measures’
The seventh characteristic of the Methodist pattern of revivals was the adoption
of special measures. Methodism was particularly adept in adopting new ideas and
techniques in evangelistic pursuits, although ever conscious of the tensions involved.
In South Australia, these included ‘Camp Meetings’, the ‘penitent form’ and
‘protracted meetings’.
Camp Meetings
Primitive Methodism formed in 1812 under the leadership of Hugh Bourne
following a split in Wesleyan Methodism over the introduction of ‘Camp Meetings’.
The Wesleyans considered that the American camp meeting was inappropriate for
use in England, while the Primitive Methodists embraced the idea, and adopted a
one-day event without an actual camp.70 The camp meeting had its American origin
at Red River and Gasper River, Kentucky in 1800, during the Presbyterian
communion season. The American evangelist, Lorenzo Dow, during his visit to
Britain in 1805-1806, advocated the meeting.71 The Presbyterian communion season
included a weekend of preaching, prayer, and devotional meetings that culminated in
the communion service and often led to revival.72
The South Australian Primitive Methodists, true to their British parentage,
maintained the camp meeting as a regular feature of circuit life. These meetings,
developed along the lines of Hugh Bourne’s, and held in conjunction with the annual
District Meeting of the Primitive Methodist Church, were important features of open68
SABCM, August 1887, 669.
Hempton, Methodism: Empire of the Spirit, 58.
70
Bebbington, ed., Protestant Nonconformist Texts vol. 3, 260.
71
On the origin of the American camp meeting see, Wolffe, The Expansion of Evangelicalism, 2006,
53-59. For the split in English Wesleyan Methodism, see Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 16.
72
Leigh Eric Schmidt, Holy Fairs: Scotland and the Making of American Revivalism (Grand Rapids,
MI: Eerdmans, 1989), 59-68.
69
37
air revivalism.73 At the second District Meeting held at Mount Barker on Thursday 7
October 1858, people came from the surrounding district in whatever conveyances
could be secured, while some walked from Strathalbyn (twenty kilometres away) and
beyond to attend the camp meeting.74 Numbers swelled when hundreds from the
suburbs and country attended a camp meeting held near the old Exhibition buildings
in Adelaide following a District Meeting around 1860. The ‘processions were
powerful’ and nearly two-thousand people listened ‘attentively’ to the preaching and
testimonies of the converted at the meeting.75 The attendance was impressive, given
that the Primitive Methodist membership for the entire colony at this time was
approximately one-thousand, and consisted of four circuits each with twelve
representatives to the District Meeting.76 The Primitive Methodist Record thought
such attendances reflected the interest shown by members and adherents in the
spiritual as well as the legislative results of the Connexion. This was suggestive of
agreement with the Connexion’s ‘primitive past’ and the ‘romantic simplicity and
religious passion’ as advocated by Hugh Bourne over fifty years earlier.77 Camp
meetings were popular in the circuits as well. In 1867, the South Australian Primitive
Methodist Record reported:
We have held camp meetings during the quarter at North Kensington and
West Mitcham. They were attended by a large number of persons. The
preachers announced, earnestly and faithfully, the invitations and
threatening of the Gospel. Many tears were shed, great rejoicings were
heard, much good was done, and they will be remembered as memorial days
of the past.78
The Wesleyans were also active proponents of camp meetings in the 1860s,
particularly during the time when the Rev. John Watsford was appointed to South
Australia as District chairman (1862-1868). Prior to his arrival in the colony,
Watsford had experienced a number of camp meetings in the circuits he presided
over. One of these, held in Maitland in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales in 1860,
possessed ‘great spiritual power’, and attracted ‘large numbers’, of whom over fifty
73
John Kent, Holding the Fort: Studies in Victorian Revivalism (London: Epworth, 1978), 54.
SAPMR, April 1879, 336.
75
Ibid.
76
Membership figure listed in Appendix Two. South Australian Primitive Methodist Record, 337.
77
Kent, Holding the Fort, 53.
78
South Australian Primitive Methodist Record, January 1867, 11.
74
38
were ‘converted to God’.79
An all-day camp meeting held on Good Friday in 1867, during Watsford’s last
year in Adelaide, drew twelve-hundred to the home of Mr. C. Follard at Enfield. The
event was typical of others held at this time. A large tent contained seating brought in
from other chapels. The day commenced with O for a thousand tongues to sing,
which the people did sing. Four ordained and two lay speakers addressed the
morning and afternoon sessions. One of the speakers brought hearers to tears, as
stirring hymns and fervent prayers sounded inside and outside the tent. At lunchtime,
women set the tables as the gathering spread around the grounds in small and large
groups, some of whom talked together of the ‘goodness of God’. The event was not
without its converts as “not a few, made the resolve, that ‘this people shall be my
people and their God my God’”. The day concluded with an evening service held in
Archer Street Church, North Adelaide, during which some further conversions took
place. From that day, and over the next two to three months, ‘showers of blessings’
visited the three Adelaide Wesleyan circuits during special services.80
At the June Quarterly Meeting of the Adelaide Second Circuit held on 27 June
1867, there were 103 on trial.81 A love feast held after the Quarterly Meeting in the
Archer Street Church, reminiscent of a revivalist ethos, ‘was indeed a time of power
from on high. The place was filled with His glory, and every heart with holy joy.
Many were led to realise the unspeakable blessing of “perfect love”, and each, on
looking back on the said season of refreshing, is constrained to exclaim, “and He
blessed me there”’.82 Like their counterpart in America, the Adelaide Second Circuit
Quarterly Meeting, ‘ran over into a season of blessing, when routine shaded into
revival’.83 The total number of converts in the three circuits was 230 with an
additional seventy reported on trial. The Good Friday camp meeting may have
precipitated a revival, special services may have sustained it, but it was the
transaction of Methodist business that precipitated cause for celebration. Forty years
79
John Watsford, Glorious Gospel Triumphs, (London: Charles H. Kelly, 1901), 124-125.
SAWM, July 1867, 110-111.
81
Persons wishing to become Methodists normally spent two to three months ‘on trial’ as members of
a class before admission to full membership.
82
SAWM, July 1867, 110-111.
83
Hempton, Methodism: Empire of the Spirit, 80.
80
39
later, Watsford opined that despite the benefits that camp meetings provided, more
could have been achieved through them if the practices of American Methodism had
been examined and applied wherever appropriate.84
The popularity of camp meeting revivalism, however, started to decline around
the late 1870s. By then, attendances at Primitive Methodist meetings had fallen away
in comparison to earlier meetings.85 The Wesleyans were less than enthusiastic about
the longer-term prospects of the camp meeting. In 1890, the editor of the Christian
Weekly and Methodist Journal acknowledged that, although the camp meeting was
important for American Methodism, ‘the blending of holiday excursions, picnics, and
Arcadian pleasures, with high religious teaching and earnest spiritual exercises,’
rendered them ‘out of harmony with English and Australian taste’.86 By the 1890s,
Wesleyan interest in the camp meeting had diminished, whereas the Primitive
Methodists still maintained theirs as part of their District Meetings and circuit
gatherings, despite fewer in attendance than thirty years earlier.87
Anxious Seat or Penitent Form
‘Special measures’ were also referred to as ‘special means’ or ‘special services’
and some found their origin in the Evangelical Revival, such as the outdoor
preaching of Wesley and Whitefield. Others were modified and adapted and new
ones such as the anxious seat (a special bench at the front of the church for those
under conviction) introduced, influenced by the ‘new measures’ which featured in
the revivalism of Charles Grandison Finney (1792-1875).88 Richard Carwardine
abbreviated these:
In new measure revivalism, preaching was often more direct, specific and
theatrical and was often conducted by preachers who itinerated with the
avowed intention of stirring churches and winning converts. Prayers were
sustained over long periods, sometimes with specific requests for named
individuals. At ‘social’ or ‘promiscuous’ prayer meetings, women might
prove as vocal as men. In addition to the more reputable enquiry meetings,
the ‘anxious seat’ was employed. This was a pew set aside at the front of the
congregation where those in a state of concern over their souls could go on
84
Watsford, Glorious Gospel Triumphs, 124-125.
SAPMR, April 1879, 336.
86
CW&MJ, 10 October 1890, 7.
87
See for example, SAPMR, January 1890, 308; January 1891, 512.
88
Wolffe, The Expansion of Evangelicalism, 71.
85
40
to be exhorted and prayed for by the minister and where a public
commitment might be expected…In these high pressure conditions, the
roused emotions found in any revival could explode uncontrollably…
Protracted meetings held over three or four days – or even much longer –
served only to increase the likelihood of emotionalism. In general there was
no rigid procedure, and the methods employed could vary from revival to
revival. What was constant was the boldness, frenetic activity, emphasis on
public pressures, and general readiness to experiment that marked the
exponents of the new-measure revivalism.89
Finney’s controversial Lectures on Revivals of Religion (1835), based on the
premise that ‘a revival is the result of the right use of the appropriate means’ were
first published in Britain.90 His work heralded a shift in emphasis from Calvinism to
Arminianism as the authoritative theology of evangelistic understanding and
practice, which placed ‘a greater stress on human responsibility than divine
sovereignty in the soteriological equation’.91 The Primitive Methodists were
cautious, but accepted with some qualifications Finney’s ‘Arminianised Calvinism’
and reproduced the ‘lectures’ in their denominational serial.92 South Australian
Methodists, like their American counterparts, did not need to acquire their Arminian
theology from Finney’s Lectures on Revivals of Religion. Their revivalist practice in
the latter half of the nineteenth-century meant that they were at least familiar with the
emphasis that Finney gave to the use of the ‘anxious seat’ and protracted meetings.93
The ‘anxious seat’ or more commonly known as the ‘penitent form’, within
South Australian Methodism, was a well-established part of revival activity by the
time of the 1875 Moonta revival. Used extensively in that revival, enquirers occupied
the crowded forms after the sermon, and in full view of large gatherings. Some made
‘cries for mercy’, others appeared to be ‘in great distress of soul’, and still more
called out, ‘What must we do to be saved’?94 Preceded by massed singing, and with
emotion engendered by enthusiastic crowds, the revival meetings fashioned many
89
Richard Carwardine, Transatlantic Revivalism: Popular Evangelicalism in Britain and America,
1790-1865 (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1978), 8.
90
Finney, Lectures on Revivals of Religion, 13; Bebbington, ed., Protestant Nonconformist Texts, vol.
3, 261.
91
In the original text, the quote is in reference to the Southern Baptists of today adopting a ‘Great
Commission hermeneutic’. The quote could also be applied to Finney’s theology. See Rick Nelson,
How Does Doctrine Affect Evangelism? The Divergent Paths of Asahel Nettleton and Charles Finney,
1-2. http://www.founders.org/journal/fj33/article1.html (28 April 2014).
92
Bebbington, ed., Protestant Nonconformist Texts, vol. 3, 261.
93
Kent, Holding the Fort, 24.
94
SABCMag, August 1875, 98-99.
41
penitents. The atmosphere in the meetings was palpable and conducive to securing
conversions.95
Protracted Meetings
The use of protracted meetings, another special measure, was a feature of
Methodist revival activity from the 1840s. A typical example was the Bible Christian
Clarendon Mission at McLaren Vale, which was the scene of a ‘glorious revival of
religion’ in August 1868. Meetings commenced on Monday 6 August, 1868, and for
the next three weeks, nightly meetings were held, some followed by prayer meetings
with the exception of Saturday evenings. Two ‘experience meetings’ were held on
the two Sabbaths during which conversion testimonies were given. Conversions
recorded for the three weeks were twenty-six, thirty-seven, and nineteen respectively.
These eighty-two produced sixty additional members to the society, which,
according to the South Australian Wesleyan Magazine, ‘resulted in the conversion of
almost the whole neighbourhood’.96 Circuit-driven special services held over
extended periods, sometimes up to six weeks, enabled the local minister to arouse the
attendees to impassioned enthusiasm and expectant results; psychological
preparation was just as important as the spiritual.97 The use of the ‘anxious seat’ or
‘penitent form’, and protracted meetings were in keeping with Finney’s ‘new
measures’. Not only were revivals ‘the result of the right use of the appropriate
means’, leaders were expected to work actively to promote them.98
However, not all Methodists were enthusiastic about these special measures. The
Rev. Brian Wibberley exemplified the tension associated with the adoption of special
measures in South Australian Methodism in 1905:
While we deprecate all attempts at “getting up” a revival, let all at this
juncture be very careful to avoid every hindrance which may prevent God
from sending it down.99
We cannot organise a revival, but we can organise ourselves. We should
95
On the 1875 Moonta revival see for example, SABCMag, August 1875, 98-99.
SABCMag, November 1868, 46; SAWMag, October 1868, 91.
97
William George Taylor, The Life-Story of an Australian Evangelist (London: Epworth, 1920), 64.
The importance of psychological factors in the conversion experience has been widely recognised
since the work of William James in Varieties of Religious Experience.
98
Finney, Lectures on Revivals of Religion, 13.
99
Wibberley, Marks of Methodism and other Studies, 136.
96
42
seek a revival of the spirit of prayer and the desire for sanctity in ourselves
and our churches.100
Wibberley believed that intensified prayer activity and increased sanctity were at the
heart of the search for revival; revive the church and the people will follow.
Furthermore, he contended, revivals fostered through a greater reliance on the two
more traditional means of prayer and holiness would guarantee wider acceptance
than revivals pursued with some of the measures employed by visiting revivalists up
to the beginning of the twentieth-century. American-inspired measures to ‘get up’ a
revival such as anxious seats and protracted meetings, according to Wibberley,
contributed to the gradual demise of Methodist revivalism as the denomination
sought greater respectability.101 Prayer and the search for holiness involve human
agency, which is part of the divinely appointed ‘instrumental means of spiritual
renewal’ that God may use to send revival. 102
Conclusion
The seven foundational elements identified within South Australian Methodism
were factors conducive to revival. Itinerant and local lay leadership exercised
effective administrative and evangelistic initiatives within a connexional framework
that supported expansion. This occurred through the unfolding establishment of
classes, circuits, and eventually districts and a conference. Early Methodists stressed
that conversion was necessary and possible. The ability to integrate the vision of an
expanding church throughout the colony with the necessary resources helped to
establish communities where reproducible revivalism broke out.
The Methodist constituency expressed religious exuberance and emotional piety
in the knowledge that the immediacy of God was available through affective
experience.103 Theirs was a religion which developed heartfelt devotion, a ‘religion
Wibberley, Marks of Methodism and other Studies, 126.
John Wolffe concluded that by 1830, Methodism in Canada and the United States was trending
toward greater respectability due to the ‘very success of revivals’. See Wolffe, The Expansion of
Evangelicalism, 87.
102
Gerald L. Priest, ‘Revival and Revivalism: A Historical and Doctrinal Evaluation’, Detroit Baptist
Seminary Journal, vol. 1 (Fall 1996): 223-252, at 232.
103
Frederick J. Streng, Understanding Religious Life, Religious Life of Man Series, 3rd edn.
(Wadsworth, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1985), 25-42.
100
101
43
of the heart’.104 Arminian theology, with its emphasis of salvation for all, available
through faith in Christ, not restricted by a limited atonement, also characterised the
foundation of revival. The doctrine of Christian perfection or entire sanctification
added to the crisis of conversion by providing the revivalist with the offering of
sanctification as well. Thus, for Methodists, personal conversion and revival were the
engines of social change, and scriptural holiness was the ‘leaven of history’.105
These foregoing foundational elements, allied with innovative special measures
provided the overall ethos for Methodist revivalism in South Australia. Within this
setting, revival could be both spontaneous and promoted. The goal of scriptural
holiness spread by revivalism was an attempt to Methodise Christianity in the
colony.
104
In 1743, John Wesley wrote in defence of the Evangelical Revival, his Earnest Appeal…in which
he urged his readers to move beyond superficial piety to ‘inquire into the bottom of religion, the
religion of the heart’. See John Wesley, An Earnest Appeal to Men of Reason and Religion, 2nd en.
(Bristol: n.p., 1743), Eighteenth Century Collections Online Print Editions.
105
Bollen, Religion in Australian Society, 43.
44
CHAPTER 2
SOWING THE SEEDS OF COLONIAL REVIVALISM
The quest for a revival of ‘vital’ or ‘heart religion’ was expressed succinctly by
the Rev. J. H. Martin, speaking to a congregation of farmers at Waterloo in the
Saddleworth Circuit, some 100 kilometres north of Adelaide in 1877. In the
aftermath of the church anniversary, Martin mused:
In this place we have a nice little church, free of debt: we have peace within
our borders, but have need of a revival of heart religion.1
The editor of the Primitive Methodist denominational quarterly paper echoed the
same concern when, a year later he wrote of the church’s great need:
What is it! Not a few will join with us when we say a widespread and
permanent revival of religion. From all parts of the land there comes a
complaint of the low state of religion in the province. Spiritual apathy is
widespread. Not Primitive Methodism alone, but almost all Churches
complain of a general declension and deadness which weigh heavily on the
hearts of ministers. Faithful men amongst the laity are cast down and
perplexed…the want of religious life is apparent in the unsympathetic
attitude of many of those who attend.2
The proponents of ‘vital religion’ were not content with ‘spiritual apathy’. They
knew that the vitality of their religion could be lost, and yet recovered. This is amply
recorded in the memorial to the life of John Bishop. Born in Redruth, Cornwall, in
1832, he settled at Moonta Mines in 1869 and became associated with the Primitive
Methodist Church. Regular in church attendance, ‘earnest at the means of grace’ and
liberal in his support of the church, it was said of John Bishop:
A few years since, however, from some cause or other, ceased to attend the
class meeting, a meeting to which he had hitherto been strongly attached,
and he gradually lost his experience of the life, and power, and blessedness
of true religion, although still keeping up an outward connection with the
church.3
Following his removal to Adelaide on account of ill health, John Bishop recovered
1
SAPMR, July 1877, 119.
SAPMR, July 1878, 227.
3
SAPMR, July 1885, 166.
2
45
his faith as he ‘yielded himself up to God, and again entered into the enjoyment of
peace through believing in Christ as his personal saviour’.4 Hence, this ‘true’, ‘vital’,
or ‘heart’ religion could be lost and later recovered through individual re-conversion
or revivalist means. When were ‘vital religion’ and the Methodist emphasis on
revivalism established in South Australia?
This chapter will locate Methodist revivalism in the early colonial years of South
Australia following settlement in 1836. As temperance and Sunday observance were
some of the characteristic ways in which Methodists grew in holiness, this chapter
examines their presence in seed form as well. They were evidences of the vital
Christian life of the Methodist. The religious background to the founding of South
Australia is helpful in the analysis of the establishment of ‘vital religion’, and the
significant role it later played in the lives of the people of the colony and state.
Religious Background to Settlement
The colony of South Australia was established in 1836. It was both an
opportunity for commercial colonisation in order to test the claims of systematic
colonisation as envisaged by Edwin Gibbon Wakefield (1796-1862) and the national
Colonization Society, and an occasion in which the altruistic ideals of ‘civil liberty,
social opportunity and equality for all religions’ were tested and openly professed.5
It was to be a colony without the privilege of an established and endowed church,
but one imbued with the voluntary principle of religious association and support.6
4
SAPMR, July 1885, 166-167.
Carey, God’s Empire, 318. Douglas Pike, Paradise of Dissent: South Australia 1829-1857, 2nd ed
(Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1967), 3. The fundamental economic principle of
‘systematic colonisation’ was that the growth and expansion of the colony were to be regulated
according to land sales which in turn would attract labour and further capital. The colony was until
1842 controlled by three organisations: Colonial Office through the Governor (all issues except
emigration and land sales), Board of Commissioners in London (land sales and emigration – abolished
in 1842), and the South Australian Company (commercial interests including the Baptist George Fife
Angas (1789-1879). It was Angas who funded partly the appointment of the Rev. T. Q. Stow of the
Colonial Missionary Society in 1837 and encouraged other Nonconformists to emigrate and invest in
the colony, including a group of German Lutherans and their leader, Pastor Kavel . This helped to
ensure the presence and growth of a strong dissenting influence. See Trevor Griffin and Murray
McCaskill, eds., Atlas of South Australia (Adelaide: South Australian Government in association with
Wakefield Press, 1986), 1. Carey, God’s Empire, 197, 320.
6
J. Stephens, The Land of Promise, Being an Authentic and Impartial History of the Rise and
Progress of the New British Province of South Australia Etc. by One Who is Going (London: Smith,
Elder, and Co., 1839), 129-42. The chapter on religious provision opens: ‘South Australia is
5
46
Individuals would accept responsibility for the provision of clergy and church
income. Far from any estimation of ‘colonisation without religion’ it was rather
colonisation ‘without religious proscription’.7 The settlement was part of a wider
vision of European-settler Christianity in which the mainly Protestant British nation
played a significant role in the transportation of its religious culture and faith.8 As a
nation ‘under the guidance of a special Providence’, its destiny and prosperity were
inextricably linked with its Christian confessionalism.9
Such culture and faith often extended beyond the confines of the mere formalities
and practices of religion to fuse the sacred with the secular. By 1836, the blending of
commercial and religious interests was a well established tradition within the British
Empire. By the 1840s, the assertion that Britain had a ‘distinctly evangelical
imperative’ to prosecute international action for ‘global regeneration’ was widely
understood and accepted by British churches and many within politics.10 However, as
far back as 1660 the Council of Foreign Plantations was instructed to enact a
religious mandate:
Take care to propagate the Gospel; to send strict orders and instructions for
regulating and reforming the debaucheries of planters and servants; to
consider how the natives, or such as have been purchased from other parts to
be servants or slaves, may be best invited to the Christian faith.11
The evangelicals of the 1830s found ready agreement in such commendable
sentiments. The declared policy of the directors of the South Australian Company
was to promote a confluence of commercial profitability and biblical precept. The
Company officials saw themselves not as ‘grasping traders, but of the enlightened
and far sighted merchants of England; and with a philanthropy worthy of Christianity
distinguished from all other British colonies, by the circumstance that no provision has been made by
the state for the promotion of religion. The voluntary principle will, therefore, be fairly put to the test’.
Written by the Wesleyan journalist, John Stephens (1806-1850), the book promoting South Australia
was published by the South Australian Company.
7
Carey, God’s Empire, 319.
8
For a comprehensive early account of European-settler Christianity see K. S. Latourette, A History of
the Expansion of Christianity, 7 vols (London: Harper and Brothers, 1937-45). For Australia, his work
is supplemented by the much more recent I. Breward, A History of the Churches in Australasia
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001).
9
Hansard Parliamentary Debates, House of Lords, series 3, vol. 20, August 1833, 225. Speech by
Archbishop of Canterbury.
10
John Wolffe (ed.), Evangelical Faith and Public Zeal (London: SPCK, 1995), 81.
11
Arthur Mills, Colonial Constitutions (London: John Murray, 1856), 5-6.
47
in its purest days…have sought to engraft upon their commercial enterprise the moral
and religious prosperity of the community’.12 Such policy had the approbation of
David McLaren (1785-1850), the Company’s second Colonial Manager, who took
his departure from the colony in January 1841 at a lavish public dinner held in his
honour, and attended by more than a hundred leading colonists. He used the occasion
to vindicate his personal and public ethic as a ‘prosecution of business with the
maintenance of piety’, and for whom conduct was regulated and governed by the
‘benevolence and fear of God’, which promoted uprightness and integrity.13
From the outset, Nonconformity was a significant part of the colony’s religious
character, encouraged by religious equality guaranteed by the separation of church
and state and without an Anglican hegemony through its centuries-old partnership
with the state. 14 Here was a separation in function, but one in which the church’s
dependency on state protection and the state’s need of religious influence in the
maintenance of civil order led to a mutually beneficial relationship.15 George Fife
Angas (1789-1879), passionate exponent of free trade, religious liberty, and a strong
Dissenting influence, had three goals for South Australia:
12
South Australian Gazette and Colonial Register, 24 February 1838, 3.
South Australian Register, 2 January 1841. McLaren was instrumental in the growth of the
Company through astute lending, property acquisition, banking, shipping, and farm management. He
was an ardent evangelical and lay preacher, active in Baptist circles, and was generous in making
loans to Protestant churches and schools. He was an active opponent of attempts to found a Roman
Catholic Church in Adelaide, and through business and piety sought to establish the colony as a
devout evangelical Protestant community. See ADB, vol. 2
14
The establishment of evangelical Nonconformity was given considerable impetus from October
1837 when the Independent minister, the Rev. Thomas Quinton Stow (1801-1862) from the
Independent Church at Halstead, Essex, arrived in the colony. See ADB, vol. 2, 491-492. The
transition from the traditional idea of a colonial government in conjunctive unity with the Church of
England, to Anglicanism acting autonomously in matters of establishing Episcopal churches was still
being worked out in the Australian colonies in the 1830s. For example, Rowan Strong challenges the
prevailing long-standing view that during the period of Western Australia’s first four Governors
(1827-1857), Anglican privilege was well established. He argues that ‘far from maintaining a bias
towards the Church of England, the colonial government maintained an erastian control over that
Church which was at odds with the increasing political neutrality of imperial governments from the
1830s’. See Rowan Strong, ‘Church and State in Western Australia: Implementing New Imperial
Paradigms in the Swan River Colony, 1827-1857’, Journal of Ecclesiastical History, vol. 61, no. 3
(July 2010), 517-540. Although the South Australia Act (1834) contained a ‘chaplaincy clause’ for the
paid appointment of both Church of England and Church of Scotland clergymen, only two Anglicans
(Charles Beaumont Howard and James Farrell – with only Howard paid from the civil list) served in
the office of Colonial Chaplain until the position was abolished in 1869. Rigorous Dissenting
influence and the vigorous opposition to state aid to the churches by those who envisaged churches as
voluntary associations free from government control ensured religious equality and the voluntary
principle. See also Pike, Paradise of Dissent, 115-119, and N. K. Meaney, ‘The Church of England in
the paradise of dissent: a problem of assimilation’, Journal of Religious History iii (1964): 137-57.
15
Pike, Paradise of Dissent, 12.
13
48
My great object was, in the first instance, to provide a place of refuge for
pious Dissenters of Great Britain, who could in their new home discharge
their consciences before God in civil and religious duties without any
disabilities. Then in the second place, to provide a place where the children
of pious farmers might have farms on which to settle and provide bread for
their families; and lastly, that I might be the humble instrument of laying the
foundation of a good system of education and religious instruction for the
poorer settlers.16
The opportunity for Dissenters to emigrate in search of freedom from religious
persecution, as occurred in the American colonies, was part of Dissenting history.17
The influence of Angas and those whom he appointed as emigration agents in Britain
was such that one-third of the 12,204 free passage colonists selected from 1836 until
1842 helped to ensure a strong, pious Dissenting presence.18
The early Nonconformists were no doubt heartened by the remarks of Governor
George Gawler (1795-1869) on the eve of his departure from the colony in May
1841.19 In responding to Wesleyan expressions of goodwill, Gawler pronounced in a
somewhat eulogistic and prophetic tone:
I most sincerely pray, that God in His faithfulness and power may preserve
and extend the pure and simple doctrines of His Word among yourselves
and every denomination in South Australia, knowing as I do, that there is no
other permanent foundation for individual or public prosperity.20
Like the British ‘confessional state’, cooperation of church and state promoted
‘national security, public morality and good order’.21 In other words, there was no
doubt in Gawler’s mind that the churches had a civic duty to enhance the well-being
and prosperity of the colony through the effective extension of their work.
Converting the Colonists – Revivalism
Gawler’s expansionist sentiment for the churches and expected societal well-
16
Edwin Hodder, George Fife Angas: Father and Founder of South Australia (London: Hodder and
Stoughton, 1891), 239.
17
Pike, Paradise of Dissent, 47.
18
Jackson, Churches and People in Australia and New Zealand, 17.
19
Lieutenant Colonel George Gawler was the second Governor of South Australia from 17 October
1838 until 15 May 1841. Gawler was selected, in part, because the Colonization Commissioners
wanted a ‘godly man’. See ADB, vol. 1, 431-435.
20
Bickford, Christian Work in Australasia, 146.
21
Carey, God’s Empire, 41.
49
being was echoed many times within Methodism in the oft repeated statement of the
Hebrew sage that ‘Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any
people’.22 But how was this to be done? As a movement which found its genesis in
revival, Methodism looked enthusiastically to revivals as the primary means by
which its influence and extension was to be measured.23 This was a common feature
of the various branches of Methodism:
The expectation of recurring revivals of religion was common to all the
Methodist bodies. It was natural that such a hope should beat strongly
throughout Methodism. It was believed that what had happened in the days
of Wesley could be repeated, subject to some modifications because of
changed circumstances, among later generations. Primitive Methodism was
the fruit of revivalistic preaching. Revivalism was a perennial feature of
Methodism in the county of Cornwall, and of this phenomenon the Bible
Christian movement was the most lasting fruit. Methodists of whatever
denominational hue prayed and hoped for the sort of revival that would fill
their churches.24
It did not take long before the first recorded revival in the colony occurred.
Barely eighteen months after the colony was founded and three months after the first
stone building was opened for public worship in March 1838, a Methodist love-feast
was held on 3 June 1838, conducted by local preacher Jacob Abbott.25 What
followed was a ‘long series of blessed revivals, in the course of which many people
were added unto the Lord’.26 A Methodist society formed in the absence of a
Wesleyan minister established regular ministrations.27 Soon after his appointment to
Adelaide by the British Methodist Conference of 1840, John Eggleston (1813-1879),
known as an energetic ‘soul-saving’ preacher, reported that: ‘A blessed revival of the
work of God broke out. Backsliders were reclaimed, sinners were converted, and
many believers were enabled to testify to the possession and enjoyment of perfect
22
Proverbs 14:34. See Blacket, The Early History of South Australia, xxii.
Carwardine, Transatlantic Revivalism, 10.
24
Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 22-23.
25
‘Love feasts’ were occasions for fellowship and testimony during which members drank water from
a common cup and ate pieces of bread from a plate passed around. Based on a rite of the early church
and attended by active members only, at least in the early years, meetings created an atmosphere of
mutual trust and support. The practice lasted until around the end of the nineteenth-century. See Hunt,
This Side of Heaven, 162-163.
26
James Colwell, ed., A Century in the Pacific (London: Charles H. Kelly, 1914), 305.
27
Colwell, 303-305.
23
50
love’.28
Writing to the Missionary Committee on 19 January 1841, Eggleston reported
‘times of refreshing’ as a sign of divine visitation. Aware of an anxious state among
believers over their purity of heart, he employed ‘special means’ including a 5am
prayer meeting for believers seeking sanctification:
Several came, and they were examined individually as to the direct “witness
of the Spirit” to their adoption. All were clear upon this point. Five
witnessed a good confession of their happy enjoyment of perfect love. The
rest testified their deep anxiety to secure the same blessedness. Four of
these, before the meeting concluded, were enabled to believe, and felt the
overwhelming power of saving grace.29
Eggleston also reported a marked change in the attitude of the leaders within the
society. More united and harmonious in their work and display of ‘brotherly love’,
their ‘active zeal’ was emulated by other society members. These qualities, it was
believed, were instrumental in the raising up of others to further the work of the
society in the city and nearby settlements. Furthermore, a number of conversions
took place, and a ‘special Pentecostal visitation’ occurred on the first Sabbath of
1841.30
The results of Eggleston’s work reflected the emphasis he placed on two
doctrines within Wesleyan Methodism. The first was the doctrine of assurance,
wherein believers possessed an inner witness of the Spirit of God that they belonged
to God. Secondly, the doctrine of Christian perfection which taught that it was
possible for a believer to experience perfect love or holiness. The turning away from
sinful desire and action to embrace holy or right living could be the ongoing state of
the believer when controlled by the Spirit of God.31
28
On Eggleston’s life see ADB vol. 4, 132. Bickford, Christian Work in Australasia, 142.
Haslam, History of Wesleyan Methodism in South Australia, 66. This is the only nineteenth-century
history of Wesleyan Methodism for South Australia. Derived from a series of articles, which appeared
in the Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal from 1 January 1886 to 24 June 1887, it was reprinted
in a limited edition by the South Australian Methodist Historical Society in 1958. Hunt, This Side of
Heaven, 34.
30
Haslam, History of Wesleyan Methodism in South Australia, 66.
31
Haslam, History of Wesleyan Methodism in South Australia, 65-66, 76. The doctrines of Christian
Perfection and Assurance are outlined in W. J. Abraham and James E. Kirby, eds., The Oxford
Handbook of Methodist Studies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 587-617.
29
51
Following the first Sabbath in 1841, increased religious enthusiasm led to the
establishment of an auxiliary of the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society. This
happened at a public meeting within days of that first Sabbath, presided over by
Judge Cooper with support from the Rev. T. Q. Stow (Congregational) and Rev. R.
Drummond (Presbyterian). The well attended meeting appointed a committee of
twenty members of the Gawler Place church.32
Methodist missions were a part of Methodism from its inception. John Wesley’s
metaphor, ‘The world is my parish’, was both an evangelistic statement and
justification for territorial expansionism.33 The formation of the Wesleyan Methodist
Missionary Society (WMMS) in 1817 under the direction of the British Conference,
brought better coordination and centralised control to the otherwise disparate nature
of mission work.34 The Adelaide Wesleyan auxiliary, buoyed by early evangelical
and notable civic support, collected £105, which included five guineas from
Governor Gawler, for the work of the parent body in London. Ever mindful of their
long standing opposition to a privileged and established church, the colony’s
Wesleyan Methodists were no doubt quietly approving of the act of recognition on
behalf of the colonial authorities.35 Their evangelical credentials in supporting the
WMMS, noted for its commitment to conversionism and the reformation of the host
culture, were confirmed.36 The colony’s Methodists, themselves the result of the
exertions of the WMMS in establishing the initial presence in South Australia, were
enthusiastic in their support of the wider work of the WMMS; conversion of the
heathen in far off lands was part of their mandate as exponents of ‘vital religion’.
The formation of the missionary society was seen by some as the result of a
revival of the work of God.37 Certainly, there seems to be some justification for this
assertion as evidenced by the statistical returns. In September 1841, a membership of
32
The South Australian Register, 16 January 1841. Civic notables included Hon. Wm. Smilie,
Advocate-General; Wm. Bartley, Esq., Registrar-General; Dr. Litchfield; Messrs. Moorehouse, Giles,
Peacock, Goss, MacDougall, and Frew.
33
Dana L. Robert and Douglas D. Tzan, ‘Traditions and Transitions in Mission Thought’, in Abraham
and Kirby, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Methodist Studies, 431-448, at 432.
34
Carey, God’s Empire, 181. Samuel Leigh was the first WMMS appointee to New South Wales in
1815. With the formation of the Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Conference by the British
Conference in 1855, Australia assumed its own responsibility for foreign missions.
35
Carey, God’s Empire, 192.
36
Bradley, The Call to Seriousness, 72-92.
37
Bickford, Christian Work in Australasia, 142.
52
277 with twenty on trial for membership was reported, an increase of 117 over the
year. Most of these, according to Eggleston, were new converts, with only eight
having transferred their membership from home churches in England. Furthermore,
there were twenty-five preaching places, and of these, four consisted of chapel
buildings: Gawler Place, Franklin Street, North Adelaide, and Bowden which
together had 700 attendees at public worship. Other preaching places, which included
private homes, extended to Willunga in the south and Kersbrook to the north-east.
Eggleston was assisted by twenty-five local preachers in full connexion and four on
trial. A total of 552 scholars and fifty-three teachers was also reported.38
What do we know of these converts? It is likely that they came from the
labourers and workers that provided the bulk of the immigrant population of the
colony, and that they were relatively young. There were 4,408 arrivals in 1840
comprising ‘agricultural labourers, bakers, blacksmiths, bricklayers, brick makers,
carpenters, carriers, domestic servants, ploughmen, shepherds, sawyers, saddlers,
shoemakers, tailors, painters, miners, masons, millers, and various other trades’.39 It
is also likely that the converts were those who had limited contact with the churches
in England, as there were so few transfers of church memberships, and in the colony,
were not constrained by social attitudes and class distinctions.40 It is not surprising
that some, who may have considered themselves nominally Christian, should
respond with enthusiasm to the claims of ‘vital religion’. For these colonists, religion
had taken on a new meaning and for Wesleyan Methodism, revivalist fervour had
meant that times of refreshing could not only maintain its constituency but make an
advance as well. At the very least, identification with a nominally known religious
society provided them with a sentimental link to their mother country.41
These local Methodist societies were composed of and led by lay officials who,
like Eggleston, were committed to John Wesley’s vision of holy living. Together
with the local preachers they provided cohesion and a spirit of unity under
38
Haslam, History of Wesleyan Methodism in South Australia, 71-72.
Information extracted from The Almanac for 1840, reprinted in the South Australian Register, 2
January 1841.
40
Jackson, Churches and People in Australia and New Zealand 1860-1930, 48.
41
Alan Black and Peter Glasner, Practice and Belief: Studies in the Sociology of Australian Religion
(Sydney: George Allen & Unwin, 1983), 1.
39
53
Eggleston’s leadership. Possessed of ‘abounding enthusiasm and unwavering faith’,
Eggleston’s vision of a continuous Pentecost was considered possible.42 At the end of
its first five years, Wesleyan Methodism had laid the foundation stone of
‘Pentecostal blessing’. Revivalism, rooted in Methodism’s pan-evangelical culture
within local societies and Sunday schools found a receptive host culture.
Prior to his departure from the colony in the middle of 1842, Eggleston was no
doubt pleased with the advance of Methodism under his leadership. His experience
of a ‘Pentecostal visitation’ on one occasion at a quarterly love feast when ‘penitents
and backsliders’ crowded the communion rails in search of pardon, accompanied by
‘believers panting after purity’, so moved him that he could do little ‘but lean against
the pulpit and weep with gratitude to God’.43
The experience of revivalist fervour within Methodism was by no means unique
to the South Australian colony during the 1840s.44 The 1840 revival at Parramatta,
twenty-one kilometres west of Sydney, pre-dates the Adelaide revival under John
Eggleston by a few months and is associated with the first Australian-born Methodist
minister, John Watsford (1820-1907). The revival of 1840 had its beginnings prior to
Watsford’s acceptance by the British Wesleyan Conference in 1841 as a probationer
for the ministry. Watsford, with a fervent belief in the power of prayer, and two local
preachers committed themselves to regular daily prayer for an outpouring of the
Holy Spirit. Watsford recorded the following account:
At the end of the fourth week, on Sunday evening, the Rev. William Walker
preached a powerful sermon. After the service the people flocked to the
prayer meeting, till the schoolroom was filled. My two friends were there,
one on each side of me, and I knew they had hold of God. We could hear
sighs and suppressed sobs all around us. The old minister of the circuit, who
had conducted the meeting, was concluding with the benediction. ‘The grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God’ – here he stopped, and sobbed
aloud. When he could speak he called out, ‘Brother Watsford, pray’. I
prayed, and then my two friends prayed, and oh! the power of God that
came upon the people, who were overwhelmed by it in every part of the
room! And what a cry for mercy! It was heard by the passers-by in the
42
Haslam, History of Wesleyan Methodism in South Australia, 65, 68.
Haslam, History of Wesleyan Methodism in South Australia, 66-67.
44
A preliminary survey by Stuart Piggin reveals that there were revivals at Parramatta, Windsor, and
Castlereagh Bathurst (all in New South Wales) during 1840-41, and one in Melbourne in 1843. See
Piggin, Spirit, Word and World: Evangelical Christianity in Australia, rev en (Brunswick East, VIC:
AcornPress, 2012), 40.
43
54
street, some of whom came running in to see what was the matter, and were
smitten down at the door in great distress. The clock of a neighbouring
church struck twelve before we could leave the meeting. How many were
saved I cannot tell. Day after day and week after week the work went on,
and many were converted.45
Watsford was associated with other revivals in Australia when appointed to
Methodist circuits: Ballarat, Victoria (1868-1871), Parramatta, Surry Hills, New
South Wales (1854-1857), Balmain, Windsor, and Goulburn, New South Wales
(1857-1860). He was appointed to Pirie Street Wesleyan Methodist Church in
Adelaide (1862-1865), which also experienced revival activity.46 The early years of
Methodism in New South Wales and South Australia provide contrasting stories of
numerical growth. Although there was a Wesleyan Methodist presence in the former
colony since 1812, membership had only grown to 112, in addition to twenty Sunday
school teachers and 137 scholars by 1831.47 By contrast, the colony of South
Australia, in less than five years since the settlement began in 1836, reported a
Wesleyan presence of 277 members, and by 1842 there were fifty-three Sunday
School teachers and 552 scholars.48 An increase of 117 members, with only eight
transfers from England reported for 1841, suggests that the Eggleston-led Adelaide
revival of 1841, despite the colony’s commercial depression, was a significant factor
in advancing the Methodist cause.49
Other factors help to explain the relative success of Methodists in Adelaide in the
period 1836-1842, when compared to their New South Wales co-religionists in the
longer period 1812-1831. In their analysis of the ‘relative failure’ of the latter’s
Methodist mission, the historians Don Wright and Eric Clancy suggest four reasons:
lack of receptivity of the ‘doctrines of full salvation and entire sanctification’ within
the population of convict origin; a dispersed settlement; absence of effective lay
leadership; and a lack of unity and effective cooperation among the missionaries.50
The Wright-Clancy analysis of reasons for Methodism’s early struggle in New South
Watsford, Glorious Gospel Triumphs, 22.
Piggin, Spirit, Word and World, 42. Piggin notes the revivals while the ADB includes dates of
appointment.
47
Don Wright and Eric Clancy, The Methodists: A History of Methodism in New South Wales (St.
Leonards, NSW: Allen and Unwin, 1993), 16.
48
Haslam, History of Wesleyan Methodism in South Australia, 71, 73.
49
Haslam, History of Wesleyan Methodism in South Australia, 71.
50
Wright and Clancy, The Methodists, 16.
45
46
55
Wales are suggestive of the very reasons for Methodism’s early success in the colony
of South Australia.
Prior to the arrival of the Rev. William Longbottom, the first Wesleyan minister,
in August 1838, the Wesleyan cause was led by the 24-year-old lay preacher John C.
White. Together with the 23-year-old Jacob Abbott, who was one of the first class
leaders, they provided effective leadership, and spiritual and administrative oversight
of the society. In addition, there was the prominent early colonist Edward Stephens,
cashier and later manager of the South Australian Company’s Adelaide bank from
1840, active in the Wesleyan society and generous in his benefactions; the most
notable being the gift of the land for the second Wesleyan church in Gawler Place.
Furthermore, there was a spirit of unity, and an emphasis on entire sanctification and
full salvation. 51 Finally, although there was a geographical dispersion of immigrants
within the colony there was a substantial number who remained in the centre of
Adelaide. The census for 1840 recorded 14,160 ‘Europeans’ in the colony, of which
6,557 were in the City of Adelaide, 1,600 at Port Adelaide and dispersed in villages
on the Adelaide Plains, and 5,414 in rural areas.52 Accordingly, Methodism was
focussed on city settlers, and its first four chapels were in or very near the early
settlement: Gawler Place, Franklin Street, Kermode Street (North Adelaide) and
Bowden, with a total weekly attendance of 700.
True to its inheritance of John Wesley’s sense of urgency and the Arminian
understanding that grace was available for all to receive, Methodism soon followed
the settlers to the rural areas.53 A limited revival of religion, however, was
insufficient to ensure that the foundations of social respectability maintained their
51
Haslam, History of Wesleyan Methodism in South Australia, 65-68, Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 2533. The presence of young men in leadership was not unusual as there was a ‘preponderance of men in
their twenties’ according to the first official census of late 1840. This met the emigration selection
policy of attracting young married couples as envisaged by Edward Gibbon Wakefield. See Griffin
and McCaskill, Atlas of South Australia, 11.
52
Griffin and McCaskill, Atlas of South Australia, 11.
53
Preaching places taken from the plan for the March quarter in 1841 show the Adelaide-country
spread: Gawler Place, North Adelaide, Franklin Street, Emigration Square, Bowden (Adelaide or near
by), Thebarton, Islington, Payneham, Walkerville, Onkaparinga Road, Carrington, Reedbeds, Exwell,
New Port and Albert Town, Balhannah and Nairn, Craike, Crafer’s Tiers, Longbottom, Willunga,
Mackgill, and Kensington (village and rural). These preaching places were serviced by Eggleston and
twenty five local preachers. Haslam, History of Wesleyan Methodism in South Australia, 72. There
were no chapel buildings in the village and rural areas. Worshippers met in whatever structures were
available to them – mainly homes and public places.
56
hold on the populace. For the Methodist, conversion was the beginning of the vital
Christian life. The contextual nature of Methodist holiness in the early colonial era
helped determine the priorities and evidences of the life of the vital religionist.
Temperance was one of the earliest practices.
Temperance
In the early years of the settlement of South Australia, there were five indicators
of respectability: ‘early arrival, thrift, temperance and its illegitimate offspring
abstinence, piety, and the ownership of land’.54 In an assessment by the South
Australian Register of the progress of the colony in the first six months of 1840, the
editor claimed, in a somewhat condescending tone: ‘To say that South Australia is
altogether free from vice, is of course impossible’. The editor then compared the
Adelaide settlement with that of Port Phillip in Victoria, and contended that the
difference in favour of Adelaide was ‘most striking’. South Australia, by
comparison, had very few court cases, and convict crime was the result of runaway
felons from the other colonies. Native and bushranger attacks, asserted the editor,
were almost unknown, but prevalent in Port Phillip, where the ‘great bulk of the
population is reeking with the contamination of felony’.55 The editor was very much
in sympathy with the propagandists of the new colony of South Australia, keen to
extol its virtues and to collaborate with them in order to protect and further their
interests.56 That vice existed, such as intemperance, was an affront to some of the
early colonists who regarded alcohol as both wasteful and harmful, and who, by both
precept and example, sought to confront and where possible eliminate it.
Alcohol was part of colonial life from the beginning. 57 The Colonisation
Commissioners were concerned by the reports of drunkenness among ships’
54
Pike, Paradise of Dissent, 510.
South Australian Register, 18 July 1840, 6.
56
Brian K. Dickey, ‘The Evangelical Tradition in South Australia’, in Withycombe, ed., Australian
and New Zealand History 1788-1988: A Collection of Papers and Addresses (Canberra: ANZATS,
1988), 158-159. Dickey claims that the ‘propagandists’ including the South Australian Company were
mainly interested in investing to make a profit. However, as many of them were religious as well,
issues of religious freedom were not only seen in their own right but as an adjunct to the prosperity of
their investments.
57
The first hotel in Adelaide was the Edinburgh Castle, licensed on 31st May 1837, situated on the
corner of Currie and Gray Streets. J. L. Hoad, Hotels and Publicans in South Australia 1836-1984
(Adelaide: Australian Hotels Association (SA Branch) and Gould Books), 2.
55
57
passengers en route to the colony and issued instructions in 1838 prohibiting the
indiscriminate provision of alcohol for the emigrants.58 Once ashore, sailors known
for their miscreant behaviour and ‘rowdyism at the Port’, added to the exaggerated
myth of the extent of ‘atrocious crimes’ committed by escaped convicts from the
eastern colonies; drunkenness was often linked to offences committed.59
Concerned with the limited effect of imposing a two shilling fine on convicted
drunkards, and the inability of the authorities, including the Governor, to curtail
drunkenness, Judge Jeffcott found its prevalence alarming in 1838.60 Up to a dozen
marines and labourers were often seen drunk at ‘dens of iniquity’, while the newly
arrived Congregational minister Thomas Quinton Stow claimed that, ‘Sottishness
prevails over the lower orders, and irreligion over the masses’.61 It was common
practice for some labourers to receive a daily rum ration from their employers, while
others worked no more than four days per week and drank the rest.62 This employeremployee practice was widespread in England in the 1830s and was ‘the most
important cause of everyday drunkenness...the system of drinking usages which had
grown up in many trades’.63 Writing on behalf of the South Australian Company in
its promotion of the colony, the Wesleyan John Stephens (1806-1850), with an eye to
return on company investment, lent his support to the establishment of a Temperance
Society as a means of social and economic improvement:
Unless this alarming vice be timely checked, it must inevitably interfere
with the working of the fundamental principle of the colony, absorbing, as in
a bottomless gulf, those surplus wages which it has been calculated would
be expended in the purchase of land, and consequent increase of emigration.
It is to be hoped that an effective temperance society will be established
without delay in Adelaide.64
The foundation of the Total Abstinence Society, on 1 January 1840, with its
stated object being ‘the cure and prevention of intemperance’, was but the first step
in what was to become by the late nineteenth-century, an ‘evangelical crusade’
Pike, Paradise of Dissent, 161.
Pike, Paradise of Dissent, 285-286.
60
Stephens, The Land of Promise, 132; Pike, Paradise of Dissent, 285.
61
Stephens, The Land of Promise, 132.
62
Stephens, The Land of Promise, 132.
63
Norman Longmate, The Waterdrinkers: A History of Temperance (London: Hamish Hamilton,
1968), 7.
64
Stephens, The Land of Promise, 132.
58
59
58
against intemperance. 65 By July 1840 weekly attendances were in excess of 150, and
by 1841 there were 160 members. The Bible Christian George W. Cole (1823-1893)
was the first Secretary and remained so for almost fifty years.66 The war against vice
had begun, and Methodists were prominent from the outset.
Sunday Observance
An important part of the outward form of piety and Methodist holiness was
Sunday observance. At the foundation stone laying ceremony for the Freeman Street
Congregational Church in December 1839, the Rev T. Q. Stow reminded the large
gathering that the duty of the churches was to:
Lay the foundations of religion for our community. And for this purpose, we
take the book of God, unadulterated, the great guide of our faith and
conduct; the standing ministry of a pure Gospel; the organisation of
Christian Churches; the observation of the Sabbath, and all the ordinances of
the Christian ritual.67
The churches and their representatives were ‘energetic lobbyists’ for the preservation
of the Sabbath as they understood it; they acted as the arbiters of moral judgement
for the perceived benefit of the entire community.68 One impassioned observer
complained that in the Adelaide suburb of Walkerville, the indiscriminate shooting
of bird life on a Sunday, along with the covert purchasing of shot and powder,
desecrated the Sabbath and warranted legislative action to enforce the churches’
moral sagacity:
For miles around Walkerville, whenever a bird, small or great, presents
itself, the deadly weapon is pointed…To the Christian, who wends his way
with solemn mien, invited by the church-going bell to come to the house of
God, the continual reports of fire arms are very grievous…The strong arm of
the law would arrest and awe those who care not to “remember the Sabbath-
65
The ‘crusade’ status was consistent with the British experience of the late nineteenth century. See
Brian Dickey, “‘Going about and doing good’ Evangelicals and Poverty c1815-1870”, in John Wolffe
ed., Evangelical Faith and Public Zeal: Evangelicals and Society in Britain 1780-1980 (London:
SPCK, 1995), 53.
66
Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 189, Blacket, History of South Australia, 126. South Australian Register,
18 July 1840, 6.
67
The Southern Australian, 12 December 1839, 3.
68
Walter Phillips, Defending “A Christian Country” Churchmen and Society in New South Wales in
the 1880s and after (St Lucia, QLD: University of Queensland Press, 1981), 171.
59
day to keep it holy”. 69
Sunday observance was an issue that found widespread support among the
churches in England during the nineteenth-century, as their day of worship and rest;
a day in which work should cease and worldly leisure and entertainments were
prohibited.70 This aspect of the ‘Victorian Sunday’ had its roots in seventeenthcentury Puritanism, earlier practices within the first and second century church, and
in the Jewish Decalogue, where prescriptive action concerned with observing the
Jewish Sabbath was inherited by the early Christians and became the Christian
Sunday.71 Legislation enforcing Sabbath observance was regarded as a moral law
similar to laws prohibiting adultery and theft, and therefore binding not only on
Christians – but all people upon whom moral suasion and legislative action were
required. At the time of settlement (1836), there were a number of inherited Imperial
Laws relating to Sunday Observance applicable to the colony. These included the
Sunday Observance Acts of 1625, 1627, 1677, and 1780, which together laid down
principles encouraging church attendance by limiting secular activities and
employment, which might attract people away from religious duties and observances.
The 1781 Observance Act legislated the Sunday closing of taverns, theatres,
museums, libraries, shops, public gardens, zoos, and limited the opportunity of
public assembly for lectures and debates.72
In Victorian England, the religiously minded were not the only ones keen to
argue the case for Sunday observance. Non-churchmen who favoured more
traditional values and standards of behaviour found ready acceptance through
societies and agencies such as the Society for the Suppression of Vice, founded in
1802 as a voluntarist avenue of social reform action. At various stages up until its
demise in 1886, the Society sought to suppress such vices as the desecration of the
Sabbath, obscene literature, badly-behaved public houses, brothels, gaming houses,
South Australian, 30 June 1848, 3.
Kent, Holding The Fort: Studies in Victorian Revivalism, 98.
71
For the origins on Sunday observance see John Wigley, The Rise and Fall of the Victorian Sunday
(Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1980).
72
Ninety-Second Report of the Law Reform Committee of South Australia to The Attorney-General,
Inherited Imperial Sunday Observance or Lord’s Day Acts, 1987; F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone,
eds., The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), 1433,
1558.
69
70
60
trading with inaccurate weights and measures, and illegal lotteries. However, it was
breaches of the Sabbath that formed its first object, although this became less of a
priority after the formation of the Lord’s Day Observance Society in 1831.73
Sabbatarianism, like other religious attitudes, was derivative of the religious
culture at the time of emigration for the church-going colonists.74 Acceptance of such
attitudes is what E. R. Wickham and K. S. Inglis have called ‘the law of social habit’,
in which the religious habits of one generation are determined by the previous,
irrespective of whether circumstances have changed.75 Inglis concluded from his
study of patterns of church-going among the nineteenth-century English working
classes that, ‘popular abstinence from worship was an inherited custom’ often the
result of generational neglect.76 Wickham draws a similar conclusion from his study
of religious practice in Sheffield, asserting that social habit ‘becomes at any point the
most operative immediate cause for participation or non-participation in the life of
the churches’.77 The colonists who arrived in South Australia brought these attitudes
with them which helped believers to unite with and be defined by the Christian subculture. The ‘law of social habit’ for the worshipper reinforced self-identity through
Sabbatarian practice and belief, with a slight but pervasive influence on the colony at
large, while for the less enthusiastic, the ‘law’ provided continuity for the popular
abstainer. For the proponents of ‘vital religion’ and Methodist holiness in particular,
adherence to, and promotion of Sunday observance was a core value in their
engagement with wider society, which over time became less inclined to the
predictable orthodoxy as generation succeeded generation.
73
The changing fortunes of the Society for the Suppression of Vice are discussed in M. J. D. Roberts,
‘Making Victorian Morals? The Society for the Suppression of Vice and its Critics 1802-1886’,
Historical Studies, vol. 21, no. 83 (October 1984): 157-173.
74
Sabbatarianism is ‘a peculiarly British phenomenon’, wherein the Fourth Commandment (Exodus
20:8-11) proscribing work on the Hebrew/Jewish Sabbath (Saturday) now pertains to the Christian
Church’s Sunday, and is chiefly marked by the cessation of labour patterned after God’s rest on the
seventh day (Genesis 2:2-3). In the early church, the day became a fixed day for worship, also known
as the ‘Lord’s Day’. See Alan Richardson, ‘Sabbatarianism’, in Alan Richardson ed., A Dictionary of
Christian Theology (London: SCM, 1976), 299. Joseph L. Trafton, ‘Lord’s Day, the’, Walter A.
Elwell, ed., Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books and
Paternoster Press, 1996), 488-489. The word ‘Sabbath’ was used as a synonym for ‘Sunday’ by
Christians during the period of this study.
75
K. S. Inglis, Churches and the Working Classes in Victorian England (London: Routledge & Kegan
Paul, 1963), 322-336. E. R. Wickham, Church and People in an Industrial City (London: Lutterworth
Press, 1964).
76
Inglis, Churches and the Working Classes in Victorian England, 323.
77
Wickham, Church and People in an Industrial City, 12.
61
Conclusion
We began this chapter with some introductory remarks on the religious
background to settlement. We have established that revivalism was located in the
earliest years of colonial settlement. Religionists of Methodist persuasion were
identified as early exponents of ‘vital religion’ who looked to revivalism as an
instrument of evangelistic conversionist practice in order to ‘Christianise’ the colony.
In a frontier colonial population, largely the result of emigration from Britain,
Methodist holiness characteristics included temperance and Sunday observance.
Methodists contextualised the seeds of revivalism and evidences of the vital
Christian life such as temperance and Sunday observance in a new land.
62
CHAPTER 3
COUNTING METHODISTS
We have established that within evangelicalism, and Methodism in particular,
revivalism produced converts to vital religion, and aided denominational expansion.
In this chapter, Mark Noll’s observation that ‘evangelicalism always involved more
than the revival of religion but, from the beginning, both revivals and the longing for
revival were always central’ is tested against the South Australian Methodist
experience.1 To what extent was revivalism central, and how successful was it in the
quest for vital religion? One way to test the observation, is by an examination of the
statistical evidence.
Conversion, membership and population statistics, when combined, give
something of the broad sweep of revivalist activity over time. In addition, conversion
data presented by locality establishes the geographical reach of revivalism in South
Australia. In this study, three statistical overviews for the periods 1838 to 1865,
1866 to 1913, and 1914 to 1939 are included. This ‘quantifies’ revival activity and
enables some comparative analysis between the periods.
This chapter presents a statistical overview of revivalism in the period 1838 to
1865. Central to the thesis is the importance of the revival event in the church’s quest
for vital religion. As the study contends that historians have underestimated the
extent and importance of revivalist activity within South Australian Methodism, an
examination of the statistical evidence establishes its prevalence. The extent of
revivalist activity, and its importance, adds to our understanding of the growth and
development of Methodism.
Revivalism – Statistical Overview – 1838-1865
Appendix 1 identifies thirty-nine revival-type events in this period which
culminated with the visit of the first overseas itinerant evangelist, the Rev. William
‘California’ Taylor (Methodist) in 1865, from which time Australia was placed on
1
Noll, The Rise of Evangelicalism, 69.
63
the international revivalist circuit.2 The first recorded revival in South Australia
happened in June 1838, just three years after the first revival occurred in Sydney.3
Almost from the outset, Methodists laboured with the expectation that revivals added
to membership growth. This mainly occurred when self-described (Census)
Methodists, following conversion, became members of a Methodist church.
Self-Described (Census) Methodists
South Australian Methodism of all types increased from 9.6 per cent (1,666) of
the colonial population in 1844 (17,366), to 21.3 per cent (34,879) in 1866 (163,487),
while actual church membership increased from approximately 300 to 7,626 in the
same period. By way of comparison, self-described Catholics increased from 6.0 per
cent (1,055) to 14.5 per cent (23,684), whilst the Anglicans decreased from 54.2 per
cent (9,418) to 30.1 per cent (49,295).4 Clearly, there were many self-described
Methodists who were content to be known as ‘Methodists’, but were inactive in their
relationship with the Church or, for whatever reason, chose not to join the Church.
Membership as a Percentage of Total Population
Methodist membership expressed as a percentage of the total population shows
an increase from 1.72 per cent in 1844 to 4.66 per cent in 1866.5 The number of
conversions recorded in denominational papers and secondary sources over this
period was Bible Christian 752, Primitive Methodist 327, and Wesleyan 2,084, a
total of 3,1636. Conversions, therefore, accounted for 43.2 per cent of the
membership growth if we assume that all converts became members, as some may
have been self-described or hearers prior to their conversion as a result of revival
activity. However, not all converts became members of a Methodist church as some
would have been adherents of other denominations, but attended Methodist revival
meetings, and took up membership in their denomination of adherent allegiance.
Furthermore, the act of conversion did not guarantee that the individual would
2
Appendix 1, references 1-36.
Appendix 1; Bollen, Religion in Australian Society, 27.
4
Census data from Vamplew, Australians: Historical Statistics, 26, 424, 429.
5
Some historians such as A. D. Gilbert also use a ‘membership density’ based on the growth of
Methodist membership to the growth of the population (English) aged 15 years and over. See A. D.
Gilbert, Religion and Society in Industrial England (London: Longman, 1976).
6
Conversion figures and sources from Appendix 1.
3
64
become a member, as some opted to remain as adherents and attendants on public
worship.7 Conversions therefore, as a measure of membership growth would have
been less than the 43.2% calculated for the period 1844 to 1866. There were two
significant revival-type events in the period: the 1859 Burra revival and the
evangelistic visit of Taylor in 1865. If the conversions from these two events (1,200
– lower limit) are not included in the figures then the conversions as a percentage of
membership growth reduces from 43.2 per cent to 26.9 per cent. Hence, the larger
scale evangelistic/revival event was a significant factor in membership growth. Two
kinds of denominational association are thus highlighted, self-described and church
membership, the former declared at the time of Census, whilst the latter appear in the
Church’s own returns. The former group (Methodists of all types), appeared in the
decennial censuses, and was, in 1866, about four and a half times as large as the
number of members and, in 1901, six times.
Methodists – Self-Described and Members – Comparison
Furthermore, according to census data, in the period 1844-1866, self-described
Methodists increased by 122 per cent. At the same time, there was a 171 per cent
increase in the Methodist membership relative to the total population. The Methodist
membership increased at a faster rate than the Methodist self-described population.
By 1866, combined Methodism membership, at 7,626, was five times as large as the
two next largest denominations – Anglicans at 1,439 and the Congregationalists with
a membership of 1,417.8 Neither the Anglicans nor the Congregationalists embraced
revivalism. Revivals clearly did produce new members as well as increase the size
of the self-described pool, which became a potential source of converts for the next
revival.
This occurred following a revival that took place in the Auburn Bible Christian
7
This is illustrated by the 1859 Burra revival which included all three Methodist churches. There were
a reported 500-640 conversions. The majority of converts who became members would have appeared
in the yearly figures at the end of 1859 to coincide with District meetings in November, as the revival
occurred some months previously. Others would have appeared in the 1860 returns. Primitive
Methodist membership figures for all of South Australia increased by 174 from 1858 to 1859.
Wesleyan membership figures for all of South Australia increased by 102 from 1858 to 1859.
Therefore, the total increase for the year for all of South Australia was 276, well under the reported
conversions (500-640). This indicates that not all converts went on to denominational membership.
8
Vamplew, Australians: Historical Statistics, 429.
65
circuit in 1876. This revival produced 115 members and thirty on trial. The total
circuit membership increased to 243. In the following year, the membership had
fallen back to 191 (loss of 52) with none on trial and only two admitted to
membership during the year. Converts transferred to membership and consolidated
the church, and although there was a loss to the membership a year later, those added
to the nominal pool in the district were possibly re-converted later.9 Methodist
ministers preached to secure conversions and followed up with the privileges of
church membership. This was practised whether in revival or in the Sunday-bySunday routine and rhythm of circuit life. 10
Although many entered church membership following a revival, not all entered it
in this way. Leaders established class meetings to ‘gather into the fold of Christ some
persons who are not far from the kingdom of God’.11 Under the direction of a leader,
class meetings generally consisted of about twelve persons and provided the
opportunity for spiritual testimony and prayer. Public prayer meetings, teas, and
occasional meetings catered for non-members as did outdoor preaching and
children’s meetings that provided a network of opportunities for preaching,
instruction, and counsel. Leadership of Sunday worship meetings extended beyond
the itinerant minister and local preacher. Other Society members conducted such
meetings, which including prayer, exhortation, and the reading of a sermon. These
less formal occasions allowed Methodism to expand its borders until ‘every town,
village, and hamlet in our respective neighbourhoods shall be blessed, as far as we
can possibly accomplish it, with the means of grace and salvation’.12
Polity and Revivalism
The attention and emphasis that Methodism gave to the importance of revivals
and securing converts occurred at every Annual District Meeting when the Chairman
SABCM, May 1877, 294; February 1878, 17.
The Rev. John Watsford who ministered at Pirie Street and North Adelaide 1862-1868, claimed that
‘the great end of the Gospel was the conversion of sinners’. See Watsford, Glorious Gospel Triumphs,
137.
11
Handbook of the Laws and Regulations of the Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church
(Melbourne: Wesleyan Book Depot, 1877), 123.
9
10
12
Handbook of the Laws and Regulations, 19, 124.
66
read the Liverpool Minutes.13 The relevant resolutions were:
In order to promote an increase in the congregations, and revival of the work
of God…in a word let every Methodist preacher consider himself as called
to be, in point of enterprise, zeal, and diligence, a home missionary, and to
enlarge, and extend, as well as keep, the circuit to which he is appointed.14
To work for revival and to increase the numerical size of the denomination was a
legislative requirement within Wesleyan Methodism; the former as a spiritual
movement was the ‘barque of Methodism’.15 Membership and self-described growth
in comparison to other denominations in the first thirty years, took place on a rapid
scale due to the impact of revivals and the ordinary operations of the Church. The
adoption of the ‘connexional principle’ enabled Methodism to expand with the
colony. ‘Methodism is expansive; its genius is progressive’, heralded the editor of
the Wesleyan Magazine in 1865; ‘it is in the business of the traveller to advance’.16
Revival Activity
Appendix 2 lists each documented revival-type event that occurred within South
Australian Methodism in the period 1838-1939. There were 246 events from 1838 to
1899, when Methodism consisted of the Bible Christian, Primitive Methodist and
Wesleyan branches. There were 120 events from 1900, the year of Methodist union
in South Australia, to 1939, making a progressive total of 366 events. This is less
than the 574 revival-type events listed at Appendix 1. Appendix 2 lists, in the main,
those events for which conversion data was included in the original sources, as well
as some events for which conversion data was not available, as these events either
occurred early in the period for which detailed source material is lacking, or they
13
‘The Liverpool Minutes were adopted by the Conference held in Liverpool in the year 1820, on
which occasion the inquiry was made – What measures can we adopt for the increase of spiritual
religion among our societies and congregations, and for the extension of the work of God in our native
country? ’ Thirty-one resolutions were agreed to, which were adopted by the Australasian Wesleyan
Methodist Church and reproduced in the Laws and Regulations of 1877, Part VI, Chapter II, Question
6, 122-126.
14
Laws and Regulations of 1877, Part VI, Chapter II, Questions 6 & 7, 123.
15
W. L. Blamires and John B. Smith, The Early Story of the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Victoria
(Melbourne: Wesleyan Book Depot, 1886), 95.
16
SAWM, August 1865, 146. The word ‘connexion’ signified that local societies (congregations) were
linked together in circuits and districts, all being subject to one central authority, the Conference.
Hence, Conference determined policy, practice, and resource distribution affected all Methodists. See
Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 21. Russell E. Richey, ‘Connection and Connectionalism’, in Abraham
and Kirby, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Methodist Studies, 211-228.
67
were significant events in their own right. A case in point is the 1862-1865 revival
that occurred at the Pirie Street (Adelaide city) Wesleyan Church during the
appointment of the Rev. John Watsford. Many reported conversions took place
during the ‘six months Pirie Street lived in an atmosphere of revivalism’ but statistics
concerning how many and when they occurred were not recorded.17
Conversion Index
A Conversion Index for each event that contained conversion and membership
data is included at Appendix 2. The Conversion Index for each relevant event in a
particular year, calculated by dividing the number of conversions by the total
Methodist membership in South Australia for that year, is expressed as a percentage.
The relative index situates each revival event within its denominational context and
provides a crude but helpful measure of revivalism.18 It does not suggest what
internal or external factors were favourable to revivalist success.
Appendix 3 details an Annual Conversion Index for each Methodist
denomination, while Appendices 4-1 and 4-2 graph the annual index over the study’s
duration. The Conversion Index indicates those revival-type events that have a
greater or lesser ‘converting activity’ relative to one another on a colony/state wide
basis. The higher the index, the larger was the number of converts relative to annual
membership. It does not indicate necessarily the relative importance of each revival
within the local context. For example, a revival in a small country town that
produced 100 converts would have the same conversion index as a revival in the city
of Adelaide that also produced 100 converts in the same year. The former could well
have a greater impact on the community because of the smaller township population,
with a lesser tendency to diffuse the affects of the revival when compared with the
17
ACC, 19 April 1901, 5.
A more detailed approach using an ‘Evangelism Index’ similar to a ‘Conversion Index’ as a
dependent variable and with fifty-four independent variables consisting of the internal characteristics
of churches and the external characteristics of the surrounding communities, utilising factor and
multiple regression analysis was undertaken by Curtis D. Johnson to study New York State
evangelism in the 1830s. See Curtis D. Johnson, ‘Supply-Side and Demand-Side Revivalism?
Evaluating the Social Influences on New York State Evangelism in the 1830s’, Social Science
History, vol. 19, no. 1 (1995), 1-30. A similar study utilising the Conversion Index of Appendices 2
and 3 would prove worthwhile. A study of local revivals which moves beyond the internal
characteristics of churches, and examines some of the social, economic, cultural, and intellectual
forces at work is Bebbington, Victorian Religious Revivals: Culture and Piety in Local and Global
Contexts, 2012.
18
68
city.
Two revivals that occurred a year apart within Wesleyan Methodism typify this
difference. The 1864 revival within the Adelaide Second Circuit resulted in an
increase of forty-four members with a further seventy-two on trial (total 116).19 A
year later, in 1865, following the preaching of anniversary sermons by the Rev. John
Watsford, a revival at Callington took place that resulted in nearly 100 conversions.20
Despite similar Conversion Indexes, 3.2 for the Adelaide Second Circuit and 1.9 for
the Callington Wesleyan Church, the impact on the Callington community would
have been greater, given that the population of the City of Adelaide was 23,300 and
that of Callington in 1866 was 600, including the neighbourhood farming
population.21 Furthermore, a number of miners were converted in the revival that had
the characteristics of a ‘regular Cornish revival’, and included the ‘hard and
rebellious’ unyielding Tom Tonkin, the choir leader. Many of the miners were
Cornish emigrants brought out to work the ten copper mines in the Callington area
and at the time of the revival, would have been familiar with the revivalist
atmosphere of a relatively homogeneous Cornish ethnicity.22
Where Revivals Occurred – City and Country
Of the thirty-nine revival type-events in the period 1838-1865, fifteen occurred in
Adelaide or within five kilometres of the city, and produced 2,002 converts. The
remaining twenty-four (one occurred in both the city and country) occurred in rural
townships (twenty-one) or a rural region (2), and produced 1,161 converts. Of the
country townships that reported multiple revivals, there were two each for Callington
(1859, 1865), Kapunda (1851, 1860), Salisbury (1859, 1862), and Yankalilla (1859,
1860), and four at Burra (1853, 1858, 1859, 1862). Copper mining commenced at
19
SAWM, November 1864, 14.
SAWM, July 1865, 132.
21
Census data for City of Adelaide (1866) http://hccda.ada.edu.au/pages/SA-1866-census-02_2 (25
January 2016). As there was a close relationship between the Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist
Churches, the one hundred converts are estimated as 75 Wesleyans and 25 Primitive Methodists
which reflect the difference in the membership ratio between the two churches. The Conversion Index
is based on the Wesleyan figure to be consistent with the Wesleyan Adelaide Second Circuit. For
Callington population, see R. B. Whitworth, Bailliere’s South Australian Gazetteer and Road Guide,
Containing the Most Recent and Accurate Information as to Every Place in the Colony (Adelaide: F.
F. Bailliere, 1866), 49.
22
Watsford, Glorious Gospel Triumphs, 137-137; V. H. Goldney, Methodism in Mount Barker and
Adjacent Circuits (Adelaide: Methodist Historical Society, 1955), n.p.
20
69
Kapunda in 1843, Burra 1845, and Callington-Kanmantoo in 1846.23 Each of these
locations experienced revivals in the1859 to 1860 period, which were part of colonywide revival activity at that time. By 1859, the small regional centre of Salisbury
attracted agricultural production and was adjacent to the Gawler Plains, the scene of
a Bible Christian ‘continuous revival’ from 1853 to 1860. The Yankalilla revival
benefitted from the presence of the Wesleyan minister H. T. Burgess, ‘the honoured
instrument in a great revival’.24 These mining and agricultural centres, subject to
Cornish religious ethnicity, an expansionist Methodism and the wider influences of
the international revivals of 1857-1859, were receptive to the revivalist message. 25
The ‘pulsating pattern of cyclical revivalism’ evident in Cornish Methodism
since the Camborne and Redruth revivals of the early nineteenth-century, can also be
seen in the pattern of Methodist revivalism in the copper towns of Kapunda, Burra,
and Callington, transplanted, ‘and then cloned’ through Cornish emigration.26 The
mutualism of Cornish Methodism and mining, with its ‘ethno-religious exclusivity’,
helped to define regional customs and traditions, and ‘gave institutional direction,
continuity and, above all, self-confidence and self-esteem to local culture’.27 The
Moonta-dominated copper communities of the northern Yorke Peninsula further
demonstrated this religious-cultural nexus from the 1860s.
Conclusion
The main statistical conclusions of this chapter, which covers the period 1838 to
1865 are therefore five. First, by 1866, Methodism claimed the self-described
allegiance of 21 per cent of the colony’s population. Second, according to official
census membership figures, combined Methodism was five times as large as the next
two denominations. Third, revival-type events accounted for up to 43 per cent of
Methodist membership growth.28 Fourth, revivalism helped to increase Methodist
23
Ken F. Bampton, ‘Copper Mining in South Australia’, MESA Journal 28 (January 2003): 38-44, at
38.
24
ACC, 9 December 1904, 11.
25
These revivals are listed in Appendix 1.
26
Hempton, Methodism: Empire of the Spirit, 25-27; Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 117-130.
27
Philip Payton, Making Moonta: The Invention of Australia’s Little Cornwall (Exeter: University of
Exeter Press, 2007), 157.
28
Appendix 2 lists 19 revival-type events, which produced conversions, and accounted for up to 43%
of membership growth. The actual increase would have been slightly less for reasons identified in this
70
membership and enlarge the self-described Methodist ‘pool’ from which future
conversions and re-conversions took place. Fifth, there were almost twice as many
revivals in the country compared to the city; revivalism followed the settlements and
provided the basis for future rural Methodist expansion. The overview demonstrates
the expansionary nature of early colonial Methodism when compared to the other
denominations, and its ability to increase at a faster rate than the population.
Revivalism established itself early and made a significant contribution in the
establishment of vital religion. Wherever revivals occurred, they were central and
successful. To this extent, Noll’s observation is pertinent and applicable.
chapter. Appendix 2 also lists revival events for which conversion data was not available. For
example, a revival at Leasingham in 1860 reported ‘hundreds’ converted.
71
CHAPTER 4
BURRA AND CENTRAL HILL COUNTRY REVIVALS 1858-1860
The most significant revival activity to occur in the period 1838 to 1865 was the
Burra and Central Hill Country revivals of 1858 to 1860. In 1858, with the benefit of
significant Cornish immigration (many of the migrants were Methodists) and firstgenerational expansionary zeal, Burra Methodism erupted in a momentum of
revivalist activity that continued through 1859. This activity was the catalyst for
localised revivals in the Central Hill Country during 1860.
Although this thesis in its entirety presents an overview of one hundred years of
revivalist activity, this chapter is devoted to the Burra revival in recognition of its
uniqueness within the context of international revivalism and its influence on other
regions in South Australia. The Burra and Central Hill Country revivals signify the
emergence of adequate revival momentum within colonial Methodism to ensure the
further propagation of vital religion. Hence, this chapter advances the argument that
revivalism was central to the quest for ‘vital religion’.
In 1875, as the Moonta Revival was coming to an end, the Methodist Journal
claimed that ‘the year 1859 was known as a special season of grace, both in England
and throughout the Australian colonies; there was scarcely a circuit in this colony
that was not favoured with special Divine influence and power’.1 In 1882, the Rev F.
W. Bourne of the English Bible Christian Conference reported the widespread
influence of the 1859 Burra Revival throughout the Australian colonies.2 In similar
fashion, the Wesleyan minister H. T. Burgess, in a tribute to the Rev. Robert C.
Flockhart in 1898, referred to the 1859 revival as ‘one of the most wonderful revivals
ever witnessed, and the fruit of it remain in the persons and work of some of the most
eminent laymen South Australia ever had’.3 The 1859 revival followed a revival at
1
MJ, 3 September 1875, 1.
CW&MJ, 26 May 1899, 10. Frederick W. Bourne (1830-1905) of the English Bible Christian
Conference visited churches in South Australia, Victoria, and Queensland in 1881. He was President
three times (1867, 1875, and 1891), treasurer for thirty-five years and author of the church’s first
history. Bourne’s observation is also noted in a special report on Burra Bible Christian Church
reported in the Burra Record, 7 September 1898, 3.
3
CW&MJ, 4 February 1898, 1. Flockhart was the Wesleyan minister at Burra in 1858 and 1859.
2
72
Burra in the previous year, and was the catalyst for a series of revivals in the Central
Hill Country in 1860. This chapter is a study of the two Burra revivals of 1858 and
1859 and the localised Central Hill Country revivals of 1860. At the time, ‘Burra’,
with its majority Cornish populace, ‘was a synonym for red-hot Methodism’.4
The Setting of the Revival
Geography
Burra is located 160 kilometres north of Adelaide beyond the Barossa Valley, in
what is known as the Central Hill Country, where the highland relief of the Mount
Lofty Ranges gives way to a number of north-south ridges separating alluvial plains
and low hills. Located in the 35 to 50-centremetre rainfall belt of the drier eastern
side of the Central Hill Country, Burra is on the boundary where woodland gradually
gives way to open grassland.5 Before mining commenced in 1845, the hills around
Burra contained stands of eucalypts and sheoak. The valleys were heavily vegetated,
the creeks lined with eucalypts, and the open grasslands covered with wild flowers.
Within twelve years, the landscape was practically bare due to the heavy demand for
timber to work the mine and warm the miners’ dugouts. Vast herds of goats, which
supplied milk for the miners, further denuded the landscape by stripping it bare of
grass and plant life.6
Mining and Agriculture
By 1842, half of South Australia’s white/European population of 16,000 lived in
Adelaide and the remainder continued to adjust pioneering agricultural practices in
the original rural lands around the main settlement.7 The discovery of copper at
Kapunda in 1842, and Burra in 1845, resulted in a significant increase in the flow of
immigration and capital into the colony.8 By 1850, South Australia emerged as one
CW&MJ, 15 February 1895, 1.
Michael Williams, The Making of the South Australian Landscape (London and New York:
Academic Press, 1974), 9.
6
Burra Record, 28 October 1925, 5.
7
D.W. Meinig, On the Margins of the Good Earth: The South Australian Wheat Frontier 1869-1884
(Chicago: Rand McNally & Company, 1962), 20.
8
The colony’s population increased from 21,759 in 1845 to 63,700 in 1850. See John C. Symons, Life
of the Rev. Daniel James Draper (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1870), 59.
4
5
73
of the world’s major copper producers; its ores and metals accounted for two-thirds
of the colony’s export revenues, much more than wool (29 per cent) and wheat (4 per
cent).9 Agricultural production expanded with the population. From 1845 to 1848 the
number of farmers increased from 1,267 to 1,846, whilst cultivated land increased
from 26,218 to 48,912 acres. The advent of Ridley’s ‘stripper’, a small harvester well
suited to the predominant 80-acre sections, most with their own house and storage
shed, assisted in the expansion of agriculture.10 As Methodism sought to expand
throughout the colony, a religion of the heart and the spiritual egalitarianism of its
message appealed to isolated settler farmers and their families.
In 1851, the population of South Australia was 63,700.11 There were four large
centres of population in the colony: Adelaide (14,577), Port Adelaide (population
included with Adelaide), Kapunda (nearly 2,000) and ‘The Burra’ (5,000 spread
across the townships of Kooringa, Redruth and Aberdeen). Alvey provides a brief
description of Burra:
By 1851, there were a thousand men and boys employed at the mine, their
annual wages exceeding £72,000. In addition to miners, smelters,
mechanics, and labourers employed at the mines, there were the families of
hundreds of woodcutters, shepherds, sawyers, and bullock-drivers. The town
had more than 20 shops, 2 Oddfellows Lodges, a circulating library, five
mails by coach from Adelaide each week, and several schools and
churches.12
The 1850s was a decade of prosperity interrupted by the gold discoveries in Victoria,
the first news of which reached Adelaide toward the end of July 1851. Although
South Australia lost much of its work force to the Victorian diggings, the official
statistics, if accepted, indicated that the contemporary accounts of the overland
rushes and large-scale population losses were prone to exaggeration.13 As some of
9
Williams, The Making of the South Australian Landscape, 27. Williams’s work is a historical
geography of South Australia from 1836 to the early 1970s. Along with Meinig’s On the Margins of
the Good Earth, they are two of the most important accounts of the state’s historical geography.
10
Williams, The Making of the South Australian Landscape, 28.
11
Ian Auhl, The Story of the ‘Monster Mine’: The Burra Burra Mine and its Townships 1845-1877
(Burra: District Council of Burra Burra, 1986), 309; Griffin and McCaskill, eds., Atlas of South
Australia, 12. At one time, more than half of Burra’s population lived in caves excavated into creek
banks.
12
Harry Alvey, Burra, its Mines and Methodism (Adelaide: Methodist Historical Society, 1960), 4.
The greatest number of mine employees was 1,170, recorded in 1859. See Burra Record, 28 October
1925, 5.
13
It is estimated that 36,000 left South Australia for the Victorian diggings. See Alvey, Burra, its
74
the miners returned in 1853 and 1854, many purchased land holdings in the Central
Hill Country between Kapunda and Clare. From 1856 to 1859, of the 56,000 acres of
wheat-producing land added to the colony’s total, more than half of this formed part
of the Central Hill Country, where in 1855 only 4,000 acres was for agricultural
purposes.14
By 1859, the Burra mine, along with Kapunda and the expanded agricultural
lands west of Burra in County Light, which included Mintaro, Watervale, Auburn,
Leasingham, and Undalya, was part of an accelerated prosperity based on the key
exports of wheat and flour (43 per cent of total export value), wool (31 per cent), and
copper. The arable and productive land enabled farmers to consolidate and expand
their holdings, which added to the area’s prosperity. The railway, which had reached
Gawler by 1857 and Kapunda in 1860, provided reliable access to Adelaide and
interstate or overseas export markets for mineral and agricultural products. To put
this in context, from 1850 to 1859 cultivated land in the colony increased from
almost 65,000 to nearly 362,000 acres (75 per cent of it in wheat), the number of
farmers from 2,500 to about 7,000, while the total population nearly doubled from
63,700 to 122,735, with one-third living in Adelaide.15
In wheat production, South Australia had half of the total acreage of the
continent and twice that of Victoria, her nearest rival, and contributed markedly to a
favourable balance of trade.16 During the 1850s, wheat production emerged as the
foundation of the colony’s economic development. Concentrated rural settlement
based on family-sized freehold farms dotted the agricultural landscape of the Central
Hill Country. The region was well suited to the exigencies of small-scale intensive
wheat farming that took advantage of the relatively virgin soils. Closely placed
Mines and Methodism, 6. However, such figures apparently masked the full-extent of population
movements as reflected by the immigration figures for this period, as well as the recorded births and
deaths. T.A Coghlan suggests that the net loss due to overland population movements was 1,387 in
1851, 3,868 in 1852, and a gain of 302 in 1853. According to Coghlan, the official statistics of the
colony records the population during the major impact years of the gold period as: 1850 (63,700),
1852 (66,538), 1852 (68,663), 1853 (78,944). See T.A. Coghlan, Labour and Industry in Australia
(London: Oxford University Press, 1918), 620.
14
Williams, The Making of the South Australian Landscape, 29-32; Griffin and McCaskill, Atlas of
South Australia, 12. By late 1852, some Burra miners and tradesmen returned and re-established their
work and businesses. See South Australian Register, 8 January 1853, 3.
15
Williams, The Making of the South Australian Landscape, 29-32.
16
Williams, The Making of the South Australian Landscape, 32. Edgars Dunsdorfs, The Australian
Wheat Growing Industry 1788-1948 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1956), 532.
75
townships depended on bullock drays or wagons to cart the heavy bagged wheat over
unformed roads to flour mills and eventually to railway sidings. 17 Farmers were
relatively optimistic in the 1850s and by 1859, the colony had overcome the
difficulties of its colonial beginnings. The American historical geographer, D. W.
Meinig in 1961, made an impartial assessment of the nature of the colony in the
1840s. It was just as relevant for the 1850s:
Colonial beginnings are always difficult, but the observation that ‘in
Australia every beginning has not only been difficult, but scarred with
human agony and squalor’ hardly rings true for South Australia. Despite
financial distress, administrative confusion, and environmental
experimentation, a solid nucleus was established in these first years which,
compared with other beginnings on the continent, was quite exceptional: a
family-based, self consciously Christian, middle-class society, diverse in
skills, imbued with energy, untainted by either the evils of gross speculation
or penal servitude. However far short of achieving their full ideal, South
Australians, by and large, ever thereafter would maintain a conscious pride
in the distinctiveness of their heritage.18
The frontier farms and townships established during the 1850s provided
expansionary-minded Methodism with the ideal opportunity for denominational
enlargement. Methodist itinerancy, lay-agency, and connexional structure were well
suited to the colony’s rural and mining-led development.
By the 1850s, Burra had developed into a mining and industrial town located in
and adjacent to an expanding agricultural and wheat-producing region. Richard
Rogers’s study of townships in New York State in the period 1825 to 1835, during
the ‘Second Great Awakening’, in which he tests three hypotheses, accords well with
revivalist activity at Burra during the 1850s culminating in the Burra and Central Hill
Country revivals of 1858 to 1860. In his ecological analysis of New York revivalism,
Rogers contends firstly that revivalism is associated with population size. Second, it
is associated with manufacturing in the rural townships, and thirdly, with agriculture
on the county level. He concludes that, ‘collectively, these findings make urban
centres and manufacturing towns in agricultural areas the locations with the highest
levels of revivalism’.19 The paradigm of the ‘commercial agricultural thesis’
17
W.S. Kelly, Rural Development in South Australia (Adelaide: Rigby, 1962), 12-17.
Meinig, On the Margins of the Good Earth, 20.
19
R. L. Rogers, ‘The Urban Threshold and the Second Great Awakening: Revivalism in New York
State, 1825-1835’, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 49, no.4 (December 2010): 694-709.
18
76
correlates with the social, economic, and geographical factors at work in the Burra
region during the 1850s. Although Methodist revivalism flourished throughout the
colony’s agricultural regions separate from the revivalism of the larger
manufacturing townships, Burra’s intense and extended revivalism occurred where
mining and agricultural development flourished in close proximity. Religious and
ethnic factors usually associated with Methodist revivalism found a receptive
environment at Burra and beyond.
Other Revivals – 1850s
In the seven years leading up to 1858, Bible Christians and Methodists elsewhere
as well as Burra, were familiar with outbreaks of revivalism. Reminiscing forty years
after the 1858-1859 revival, William Copley (1845-1925), a boy resident at Burra in
the early 1850s, provided a rare glimpse of the proceedings of one religious revival,
which took place presumably before his removal to the Victorian goldfields in late
1851:
About the time of which I speak – the early fifties – not a year went by in
the Burra without a great religious revival in connection with one or more of
the various denominations, and it would generally last for a month or six
weeks. During that period the chapel all the week through would be
crowded. Short addresses, prayers, and hymns alternated. The addresses
might not have been characterised by much learning, but they were mostly
delivered with a fervour and rugged eloquence which many a Bishop might
have envied. I remember one man in particular who would rapturously paint
the pearly gates and golden streets of Heaven, after the manner of Bunyan,
and then describe the horrors of hell with a vividness of imagination not
unworthy of a Dante. The speaker would be no sooner seated than a chorus
would burst forth like a war song:
You’ll see the lightening flashing
In that great day.
You’ll hear the thunder rolling
In that great day.
Oh, turn, poor sinner, and
Escape eternal fire.
For you must stand the fire
In that great day.
Never was the ‘Marseillaise’ more favourably rolled out by a regiment of
red Republicans whilst women hysterically shrieked and strong men
trembled. Owing to the terrible earnestness which pervaded these meetings
no note was taken of sayings and doings which in other circumstances
77
would have appeared incongruous.20
According to Copley, revivals occurred on at least an annual basis at Burra. He
recalled the impromptu religiosity manifested by the laity necessary to sustain a
continuous revival for up to six weeks. The alternation of ‘addresses, prayers, and
hymns’, was enhanced by bodily gesticulations and emotive outbursts, which created
a noisy, multifarious, and communal revival.21 The addresses contained the arresting
enhancement of dialectical tension, as in the vivid portrayal of heaven and hell: a
moment of cerebral calculation or of direct divine inspiration. Donald Mathews
explored the nexus of sound and voice in the Methodist experience and wrote:
The movement provided a process through which ordinary people found
their own voices. They spoke. Others listened; and then they too spoke.
Others joined them. They sang and wept and felt renewed – in the love of
Christ. The language of origins was dynamic and evocative; its testimonies
in the vernaculars of the people was the dynamic creativity of the
movement.22
The popular radicalism of restrained Methodist revivalism merged with a religious
democratic revolution. Periodic outbursts of religious enthusiasm were part of the
Cornish Methodist mining culture and in South Australia occurred elsewhere. The
Wesleyan minister, Robert C. Flockhart, reported a Methodist revival at Kapunda in
1851 as ‘a very gracious outpouring of the Holy Spirit’ which resulted in 40 new
members.23 The symbiosis between Methodist revivalism and Cornish mining
established itself as a perennial feature of life at the copper mines.
Religious fervour punctuated the work of Samuel Keen (1818-1872), Bible
William Copley, ‘When We Were Boys’, South Australian Register, 8 January 1898, 5-6. Eldest
son of James Copley, miner, and his wife Elizabeth, the family emigrated from Sheffield, Yorkshire,
England, to South Australia. They arrived in 1849 and lived at Burra. The family spent some time at
the Victorian goldfields in 1851 and returned to Adelaide thereafter. A wheat farmer, William Copley
served the South Australian Parliament as a member of the House of Assembly and Legislative
Council at various times in the 1880s and 90s. He assisted in the formation of the Liberal Union in
1910. See Dean Jaensch, ‘Copley, William (1845-1925)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography,
National Centre of Biography, Australian National University,
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/copley-william-5775/text9791, published in hardcopy 1981, (25
January 2016); Howard Coxon, John Playford and Robert Reid, eds., Biographical Register of the
South Australian Parliament 1857-1957 (Adelaide: Wakefield Press, 1985), 48.
21
Copley, ‘When We Were Boys’, 5-6.
22
Donald G. Mathews, ‘United Methodism and American Culture: Testimony, Voice, and the Public
Sphere’, in William B. Lawrence, Dennis M. Campbell, and Russell E. Richey, eds., The People
Called Methodists (Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1998), 298.
23
Quoted in Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 48. Kapunda copper mine commenced in the mid-1840s.
20
78
Christian minister on the Gawler Plains in the seven years from 1853 to 1860.24 The
circuit stretched from Port Gawler on the Gulf of St. Vincent to Mount Torrens in the
Adelaide Hills, with the highest concentration of settlers and farmers on the Gawler
Plains centred on Angle Vale some thirty kilometres north of Adelaide. Armed with
a thorough knowledge of the Bible, a zealous physicality, and an ‘insatiable passion
for souls’, Keen often travelled up to 200 kilometres per week throughout the region.
He established fifteen churches and constructed more than a dozen chapels. 25 As a
chapel builder in the colony, there were few equals. It is said of Keen that ‘he used to
keep a number of foundation stones in his house ready for use at the first
opportunity’.26 During these years, the Gawler Plains mission resembled an ‘almost
continuous revival’ as most of the chapels experienced seasons of revivalist
enthusiasm.27 This is apparent in one of Keen’s reports:
At Ebenezer the Lord’s arm has been made bare in the salvation of souls.
Salem has had showers of blessing. Truly God is in the midst of her. About
fourteen persons have obtained a sense of pardoning love. Zoar has been a
place of refuge to twenty who escaped thither for their life. At Bethesda the
angel has troubled the waters, and diseased souls have been strongly urged
to plunge therein and be made whole. Elim was opened soon after our last
District Meeting. This chapel was built before we commenced preaching in
the immediate neighbourhood. On the day it was opened eight members
were transferred from Zoar and formed into a Church. Since then four have
removed, yet we have now a Society of 59 members rejoicing in God their
Saviour. Enon has had constant visits from on high. Most of last year’s
converts are glorifying God, and this year many have been added to their
number. At Emmanuel God has been with us to comfort the troubled, guide
the perplexed, heal the broken-hearted and save the lost. On Zion the glory
of the forgiven has been great. Hephzibah has retained the favour of the
Most High. In this place, fifteen have found mercy and grace to help in time
of need. Providence is unhappily stationary, and Bethel is still cold…28
Other Bible Christian revivals in the colony during this time included Bowden
24
On Keen, see Arnold D. Hunt, ‘The Bible Christians in South Australia’, Journal of the Historical
Society of South Australia, no. 10 (1982): 20; Arnold D. Hunt, The Bible Christians in South
Australia, 2nd edn (Adelaide: Uniting Church Historical Society, 2005), 7-8. Hunt, This Side of
Heaven, 67-68.
25
Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 67; SABCM, December 1892, 174-175; February 1893, 210-212. Keen’s
letters to the English Bible Christian Missionary Committee reporting his work in the colony, and
published in the English Bible Christian Magazine, were often included in the SABCM.
26
CW&MJ, 13 April 1900, 4.
27
E. A. Curnow, His Spirit Comes (Adelaide: Uniting Church Historical Society, 1997), 60.
28
Bible Christian Missionary Society Report (England), 1857, quoted in Hunt, The Bible Christians in
South Australia, Uniting Church Historical Society, 2005, 7. Samuel Keen preferred to assign Old
Testament names to his chapels.
79
(1855) and Mitcham (1858). Wesleyan revivals took place at Pirie Street (1854),
Norwood (1855 and 1857), and North Adelaide (1858).29 The Burra and Central Hill
Country revivals of 1858-60 occurred against this background.
Burra Churches
The churches present in Burra were representative of denominational affiliations.
According to the 1860 Census, there were 5,492 adults and children in the Burra
county. Of these 2,792 (51 per cent), described themselves as Methodists (Wesleyan
– 1,193, Bible Christians – 901, Primitive Methodists – 698). Next in number was
the Church of England – 1,490 (27 per cent), followed by the Roman Catholics – 284
(5 per cent), and German Lutherans – 255 (4.6 per cent). The Presbyterians, Baptists,
and Congregationalists represented 3.8, 2.9, and 2.3 per cent respectively of Burra’s
population.30 The over representation of Methodists at Burra when compared to the
colony as a whole (18.8%),31 was due to the relatively large Cornish immigrant
population and their cultural-religious connection with the revivalist conversionary
enthusiasm of Methodist piety and practice in a predominantly homogeneous
community.32
Wesleyan
The first church built in Burra was a Wesleyan chapel at the private township of
Kooringa and opened debt free in December 1847.33 Earlier in the same year, a
Congregational observer noted how the chapels of Wesleyan Methodists were
‘springing up with mushroom growth in every direction, owing to the zeal displayed
by their lay teachers’.34 John Chapman, a Burra Wesleyan local preacher,
commenced services in his home early in 1846, within months of the arrival of the
first miners. The home was probably a dugout in the side of a creek.35 The action of
29
These revivals are listed at Appendix 1.
‘Census of South Australia 1860’, SAPP, 1860.
31
‘Census of South Australia 1860’, SAPP, 1860.
32
In 1850, most of the 5,000 Burra residents were of Cornish origin. See Auhl, The Story of the
‘Monster Mine’; Ian Auhl and Denis Marfleet, Australia’s Earliest Mining Era: South Australia 18411851 (Adelaide: Rigby, 1975).
33
South Australian Register, 11 December 1847, 3. At the evening service, 240 persons were in
attendance.
34
South Australian, 13 April 1847, 2.
35
Alvey, Burra, its Mines and Methodism, 7. According to Alvey, among the first ten miners to arrive
30
80
Chapman, aided by the visionary foresight of the Rev. Daniel Draper as Chairman of
the District, ensured that the Wesleyans prospered from the arrival of Cornish
miners. Such was the inflow of Cornish immigrants that by October 1849 it was
necessary to enlarge the chapel to seat 450, of which 120 sittings were free and the
other 330 subject to pew rents.36
The combination of free sittings, pew rents, and wage differences among the
mine workers, accompanied by the tendency of Wesleyanism to attract ‘the mine
captains or foremen and the shopkeepers’ as occurred at Moonta,37 created social
distinctions across Burra Methodism.38 Despite this, Methodists built their chapels.
At the services and public tea meeting in 1849 to commemorate the additions to the
Wesleyan chapel, the sum of £102 raised indicated the generosity of mine workers
and the success of the voluntary principle in building chapels.39 Social distinctions at
Burra based on occupation, income, and pew-rents did not preclude the Wesleyans
from revivalist tendencies and experience. The quest for revival minimised social
differentiation in the highly competitive Methodist and religious environment.
Church of England
The Church of England built a church in Kooringa by the middle of 1849, but
overall suffered from a lack of adequate financial support. Its adherents were
reluctant to accept the voluntary system, were unable to reconcile fully to their nonestablished church status and, as fund-raisers and worshippers, they were surpassed
by the Methodist miners.40 One Sunday in 1856, the Church of England congregation
numbered twenty-three adults and a few small children, whilst the Methodists
at Burra on September 29, 1845 were several Wesleyans who probably came from Kapunda.
36
South Australian Register, 27 October 1849, 3. Pew rents and payments from members of class
meetings were the main ways of raising church income. It was common to have rented as well as free
pews, the latter catering for visitors and non-members. In some Methodist churches pew rents existed
until well into the twentieth century. See Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 160.
37
Hunt, ‘The Bible Christians in South Australia’, Journal of the Historical Society of South
Australia, 23.
38
Wage rates for Burra mine workers published in 1863 show that mechanics earned 6 times as much
as boys, twice that of labourers, and fifty per-cent more than miners. See J.B. Austin, The Mines of
South Australia (Adelaide: Platts, Wigg, Dehane, Howell, & Rigby, 1863), 21 for wage rates.
39
South Australian Register, 27 October 1849, 3. The first Wesleyan Quarterly Meeting held at
Kooringa, on 20th April 1849, over which Draper presided, showed 185 members. See Kapunda
Herald, 11 October 1907, 5.
40
South Australian Register, 10 January 1849, 4.
81
enjoyed ‘well attended’ services. 41
Bible Christians
Like the Wesleyans, the Bible Christians commenced services and built a church
at Kooringa with lay agency before the arrival in Burra of their first minister, the
Rev. James Rowe, in November 1850.42 Like other churches, most Bible Christian
men left for the Victorian gold fields in the 1850s, and after their gradual return, the
church doubled in size to 400 persons.43
Primitive Methodists
As the Wesleyans and Bible Christians gathered their ‘souls’ from among the
Cornish miners, John Wiltshire, local preacher and saddler who helped to found the
first Primitive Methodist society in Adelaide in 1840, removed to Burra in 1848 to
seek out those of Primitive Methodist persuasion. Within a year of his arrival,
Wiltshire gathered twenty members into a society and built a stone chapel.44 The
prospects appeared full of promise when Wiltshire wrote in 1849, ‘That we may see
Primitive Methodism spread throughout the length and breadth of this colony’. 45
However, with the discovery of gold in Victoria, Wiltshire travelled with his
people to the gold fields, leaving the chapel deserted. It closed in 1850. Sent by the
English Primitive Methodist Missionary Committee to Burra, the Rev J. G. Wright
arrived in 1856 and re-invigorated the cause, aided by the hospitality of the Bible
Christian minister and use of his chapel.46 Wright later recorded in his diary how ‘the
Wesleyan minister also came and gave me a hearty welcome. There appears no
bigotry here; all breathe the spirit of freedom’.47 Wright possessed an ecumenicity of
41
South Australian Register, 27 March 1856, 3.
Burra Record, 25 February 1903, 3; Alvey, Burra, its Mines and Methodism, 11. The Bible
Christian Church seated 200 persons. Lay agency had the benefit of three local preachers, one of
whom, James Blatchford, had pioneered the cause after his arrival in Kooringa in 1847. He was
assisted by John Halse and John Pellew. Initially, services were held in the open-air, and by the time
of Rowe’s arrival a capacity congregation of 200 filled the church building each Sunday. See the
ACC, 18 October 1907, 4; 4 April 1930, 3. On the Bible Christians at Burra see Hunt, The Bible
Christians in South Australia, Uniting Church Historical Society, 2005, 4.
43
Alvey, Burra, its Mines and Methodism, 11.
44
Primitive Methodist Magazine (London: 1850), 438.
45
Primitive Methodist Magazine (1850), 439.
46
Primitive Methodist Magazine (1856), 509.
47
SLSA SRG 4/103/1. Diary of Rev. J.G. Wright. Wright also expressed the same sentiment in a letter
42
82
spirit in his adopted land, fashioned by pioneering Methodism in a remote frontier
mining community, where differences over polity counted for little. Many years
later, in 1894, he was eulogised by Chief Justice Samuel Way as: ‘a Primitive
Methodist, but he belonged to the whole Church Catholic, and especially to the great
Methodist branch. Wesleyans, Bible Christians, and Primitive Methodists all claimed
him [Wright] as one of them’.48 There may have been competition over the religious
allegiance of Cornish miners, but fraternal Methodism would later help to sustain the
revival of 1858-1859. Wright was remembered by his wife as ‘a missionary with his
heart on fire for the Gospel’. By 1857, there were eighty-nine members of the Burra
Primitive Methodist Church, and by 1858, church membership had risen to 114, with
two ministers.49
Congregationalists, Baptists, and Lutherans
Although the Methodists were the dominant religious body, other churches apart
from them and the Church of England established or attempted to establish
congregations. The Congregationalists opened a stone chapel named ‘Union Chapel’
capable of seating 200 on 29 September 1850.50 The Rev. Henry Cheetham, boy
soldier at the Battle of Waterloo, the Union’s first and last minister to serve at Burra,
removed to Adelaide at the end of 1851, as the congregation had dwindled because
of the gold rush. The property, used for a time by Welsh smelters in the late 1850s
became a Presbyterian Church in 1860.51 The Baptists struggled to establish a
church, and like the Congregationalists, failed to recover after the gold rush. The
Lutherans, who relied on the support of the mainly German smelter workers,
commenced building a church at Redruth in 1850 and completed it in 1861, delayed
in the intervening period by the Victorian gold rush.52 Collectively, the three
he wrote to the General Missionary Committee in England dated 23rd February 1856. See Primitive
Methodist Magazine (London: 1856), 509.
48
Advertiser, 5 July 1894, 6. Way made the comments at a public lecture entitled, ‘My Fifty Years
Experience in the Ministry’ given by Wright at the Wellington Square Primitive Methodist Church in
1894.
49
Mrs. J. G. Wright, ‘Her Nineteenth Year: Chat With Mrs. J.G. Wright’, Register, 11 August 1915,
9. Alvey, Burra, its Mines and Methodism, 10.
50
South Australian Register, 4 October 1850, 3.
51
Register, 27 September 1855, ; John Cameron, In Stow’s Footsteps: A Chronological History of the
Congregational Churches in South Australia (Glynde, SA: South Australian Congregational History
Project Committee, 1987), 21, 97, 115; Adelaide Observer, 29 September 1855, 3.
52
South Australian Register, 28 October 1859, 3; 12 October 1860, 2; 23 August 1861, 3.
83
branches of the Methodist tree enjoyed a numerical advantage; the other
denominations were poor rivals to Methodism at Burra.
Respectability – Temperance and Sunday Observance
The effects of religious enthusiasm, however, went beyond the chapel. The Burra
community, like most frontier beginnings, possessed its own ambivalent mixture of
modest respectability and unruly behaviour associated with the indiscipline and
revelry of drunkenness. In 1846, one commentator described Burra as ‘a hell upon
the earth’, one ‘which had become so notorious’, whilst another in the same year,
reporting on behalf of the South Australian Register, wrote:
We can hardly imagine a more urgent call for the exercise of missionary zeal
than that which forces itself upon the attention when contemplating this new
and mixed community…but a zealous minister of religion. The residence of
such a couple [minister and wife] would be likely to work wonders at
Kooringa; and as there is no want of liberality amongst the well paid
operatives, it behoves the Directors to take means without delay, for
supplying the moral and spiritual wants of the young community, which the
Association has called into existence.53
There was no doubt in the mind of the correspondent that a ‘zealous minister of
religion’ in the work of moral suasion would complement the work of the tavern
proprietor, who:
Like Saul the son of Kish, is higher than most men ‘from his shoulders and
upwards’, busy in enforcing the ale-house statute of ejectment upon a
multitude of obstreperous customers with whom the worthy host seems
eminently calculated to deal from his judicious admixture of prowess and
persuasion.54
Rescuing the intemperate was the goal of the work of moral suasion for the first
Wesleyan minister, the Rev. John Harcourt, appointed to Kooringa in early 1848.
The attack on the ‘great prevalence of drunkenness’, launched through the agency of
a Total Abstinence Society, commenced with the society’s first meeting in July 1848.
At the meeting, forty-eight out of eighty present signed the pledge whilst two weeks
later the second meeting produced another ten signatories.55 Their concern was well
53
South Australian Register, 28 November 1846, 4.
South Australian Register, 28 November 1846, 4.
55
South Australian Register, 9 August 1848, 2; 19 August 1848, 2.
54
84
founded. In his reminiscences of life at Burra many years later, Mr. James Thomas
claimed that once the hotels ‘were in full blast’, the town ‘was soon transformed
from a peace-loving, law-abiding community, to a drunken, wife-beating rabble’.56
The steady but continuous campaign of opposition to drink maintained by
Harcourt’s successor, the Rev. William Lowe, was not without its own problems. In
August 1849, Lowe’s residence ‘was feloniously broken into while the preacher was
engaged in pastoral duty at the chapel, and completely gutted; the miscreants having
left him nothing in the shape of property but the clothes he had then on him’.57 The
prosecution of ‘vital religion’, warmly embraced by many but shunned by some,
nonetheless contributed to the manner in which Methodist leaders influenced the
sobriety of those in their ‘flocks’ from resorting to ‘rioting or damage to property’
during the workers’ strikes of 1848-49.58
By 1848, the South Australian News claimed that Sunday observance, which
included restrictions on hotel trade, was the ‘saviour of the Burra’, as the town
transformed itself ‘into an orderly community’:
The Sabbath is properly respected – not a person moving on the face of the
mine at work all day. The only two public houses in the neighbourhood are
closed all day, and the doors locked and barricaded; travellers in the house
have even been refused their glasses after 10 pm. The places of worship are
crowded with attentive and respectable congregations.59
In the Burra community, Sunday observance, and not the well-patronised hotels,
became the marker of social propriety and proper conduct. Davies’ contention that by
late 1848, ‘the raw frontier complexion of the community had been removed’ and
that the influence of Cornish Methodist religiosity in establishing a ‘less boisterous
56
Burra Record, 11 July 1917, 3. James Thomas worked in the mine as a ‘whim boy’ in the late 1840s
and early 1850s. As such, he worked hauling ore throughout the underground shafts. His father was a
timberman whose duty it was to check mine timbers on a daily basis. See Burra Record, 27 June
1917, 3.
57
South Australian Register, 22 August 1849, 3.
58
Mel Davies, ‘Cornish Miners and Class Relations in Early Colonial South Australia: The Burra
Burra Strikes of 1848-49’, Australian Historical Studies 26, no. 105 (October 1995): 590. The miners
themselves allowed no drinking. A correspondent to the South Australian Register claimed that the
miners obtained because of the strike, ‘by peace and order, what they would otherwise have been
difficult to accomplish’. See South Australian Register, 23 September 1848, 3.
59
South Australian News, 1 December 1848, 290.
85
complexion’ at the mining community accords with the available evidence.60
Respectability characterised by the social indicators of thrift, high moral tone, lack of
pretension, and middle-class conventions, were part of South Australian society. 61
The rise in respectability throughout the 1850s, aided by the churches and the
temperance societies, was in large measure dependent on the degree of lawenforcement by the local police. In 1856, an article in the South Australian Register,
the result of a visit to Burra, observed that ‘the external morals of the people are said
to be much improved, chiefly owing to the rigid enforcement of the public-house law
on Sundays, for the last three months by Sergeant Bolus’.62 A rise in public morality
and sobriety, the ‘handmaid of religion’, when aided by robust policing gave the
community opportunity for industriousness and for some it marked the beginnings of
‘worldly prosperity’.63 As the churches consolidated their presence and extended
their reach into the community during the 1850s, the Burra mine embarked on a
decade of relative stability and prosperity, interrupted only by the Victorian gold
rush, the vagaries of directors’ decisions and the international price of copper.64
Working and Living Conditions
Life for miners at Burra came with its own challenges. In the early years of the
mine, most miners and their families lived rent-free in dugouts fashioned in the
banks of the Burra River, only identified from above by the chimney shafts topped
with beer barrels or other contrivances. Before a major flood in 1851 wiped out the
dugouts, upwards of 2,000 people lived on either side of the river for a distance of
two and a half kilometres. Cramped living conditions, poor lighting and ventilation,
crates for furniture (although some were ‘nicely furnished’) and poor sanitation made
life tolerable at best. Considerable effort went to keep the dugouts ‘scrupulously
clean’ with frequent whitewashings. Far from their native Cornwall, beleaguered
miners and families dealt with the incessant summer heat, bushfires, and poor town
facilities relieved only by visiting friends along the creek on Sundays or attending
60
Davies, ‘Cornish Miners and Class Relations in Early Colonial South Australia’, 591.
Pike, Paradise of Dissent, 495-516.
62
South Australian Register, 27 March 1856, 3.
63
South Australian Register, 6 January 1849, 4.
64
Burra Record, 13 June 1917, 3; 20 June 1917, 4.
61
86
church as a family, their ‘one bright spot’ for the week.65 For church-going miners,
Sunday, according to the one-time resident James Thomas, was a time to look
forward to, an opportunity to ‘get out into the sunlight together with their children if
any. A good proportion of the people attended places of worship and were religious
folk, and their religion seemed more intense and emotional than that of today’.66
In addition to personal privations, there were those of a civic nature as well. A
visit to Burra by a correspondent of the South Australian Register in 1856 noted the
poor state of township services and appearance:
There is no municipality nor local government at the Burra, and the roads
are being fast washed away bodily by the immense cracks which are opened
every winter. There is no other place in the colony where some kind of local
regulations are so much needed. The whole place wears an aspect of great
desolation: no allotments are enclosed; no gardens are planted; no vegetation
can be seen; even the hilltops are unable to boast a single tree amongst them.
The dwellings look all as if dropped from the clouds: and, with the
exception of a few tradespeople, who have opened really handsome shops,
the whole population might be supposed to be in the act of packing up to be
off. Even the very buildings, though formed of a most durable blue clay
slate, are put together as if they were only wanted to hold up for a few years
until the final exodus takes place.67
It is possible that the ‘temporary’ nature of life at the mine and associated
townships reflected the ambivalence within the wider community as to the longerterm prospects of the mine’s existence. Mining, by its very nature, was limited in
duration and permanency, something with which the Cornish were familiar.68 In his
authoritative account of South Australian mines, published in 1863, J. B. Austin
contended that the Burra mine paid its workers at slightly lower rates than other
mines because there was certainty and permanency attached to regular work at the
Burra. He was aware of a ‘rumour’, which varied in vigour each year, that ‘the Burra
mine is nearly worked out’; a rumour he heard repeated annually since the mine
started producing. 69 In his account, Austin went on to contend that, ‘after careful
enquiry, I see no reason to doubt that the Burra will continue to yield large quantities
65
South Australian Register, 27 March 1856, 3; 15 January 1898, 6; Burra Record, 11 July 1917, 3.
Burra Record, 11 July 1917, 3.
67
South Australian Register, 27 March 1856, 3.
68
Austin, The Mines of South Australia, 11.
69
Austin, The Mines of South Australia, 21.
66
87
of rich ore, and consequently to pay good dividends for many years to come.70
At the time of Austin’s assessment, the Burra mine was at the peak of its working
life. In 1859, the mine employed 1,170, the greatest number of workers at any time
over its working life, and wages paid were higher than previously, in order to
compete with the newly opened Moonta and Wallaroo mines, and mines further
north in the state.71 However, according to James Thomas, the mining company had
a history of installing new mining equipment short of operational status, and stifling
developmental work at the site, suggesting that dividends were the directors’ main
concern.72 It is likely that such decisions would have created uncertainty among the
miners and exacerbated the ambivalent perception as to the nature and longevity of
its operations. The evangelist’s call to embrace a religion of certainty during times of
intense revivalism may have appealed to a mind-set imbued with the periodic
uncertainty of mining in a relatively remote location.
Unfolding of the Revivals
The course of the revivals from 1858 to 1860 is set forth.
1858
According to John Stephens, Wesleyan Methodist local preacher and teacher in
charge of the Burra Wesleyan day school, the 1858 Burra revival began in the
Wesleyan church before spreading to the other Methodist churches.73 According to
Flockhart, the Wesleyan minister at Burra, the Bible Christian church was ‘alive’ in
1858. Years later, he recalled the revival as it affected the Wesleyans and others:
In those days the Elijahs and Daniels of our Church were not afraid to shout.
The sounds of ‘Amen’ and ‘Glory be to God’ frequently rang along the
walls of our Zion. One Sunday evening, while we were preaching from
‘Felix trembled’, and just in the middle of the sermon, such a power came
down upon the congregation like a current of holy electric fire, and swept
right over the people. Cries went up from all parts of the church. Men and
women were filled with the Spirit; others in tears crying for mercy. We
closed the book, no more of the sermon; the set time to favour Zion had
70
Austin, The Mines of South Australia, 21.
Austin, The Mines of South Australia, 21.
72
South Australian Register, 13 June 1917, 3; 20 June 1917, 4.
73
ACC, 27 March 1903, 6.
71
88
come; the clouds burst, and there was a great rain. The whole place was one
mighty manifestation of power of God unto salvation. Many stepped into
higher bliss, and numbers were converted. Till midnight souls were seeking
and finding peace. For weeks, prayer and praise were heard from many
quarters night and day. In the Burra Mine, men were overpowered by the
Spirit of God, and came up to the surface happy in the love of Jesus. In our
love feast, it was heaven upon earth to hear people tell of the wonderful
works of God. All the Churches caught the Holy Fire. The whole township
for a time was as one vast temple of praise. The public-houses lost their
customers, and several of the publicans of the bolder sort came to see the
cause of their empty bars…Something like 500 souls professed conversion.74
Flockhart believed that the catalyst for the revival was an old Wesleyan miner, a
man ‘full of faith and of the Holy Ghost’, who agonised over prayer for an
‘outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the churches’. His prayers in particular, resulted
in ‘gracious influences’ descending ‘upon the entire community’. 75
J. G. Wright, Primitive Methodist minister at Kooringa (according to Flockhart,
‘full of holy fire’) was also among the first to experience the beginnings of the
revival when, in early 1858, he reported to the Primitive Methodist Foreign Missions
committee in England on the work at Kooringa. Keen to attract the attention of the
committee and encourage them to consider sending more missionaries, Wright’s
account leaves no doubt as to the extent and dramatic nature of the revival:
Of late, we have had many brought to the Cross, who have found
redemption; and some of them were the most deeply sunk; dark and
revolting was their character…Four nights this week , we have heard the cry
for mercy – hallelujah! Our chapel, now the largest Primitive Methodist
chapel in the colony is filled; and many on a Sunday evening come, but
cannot get a sitting, and so return. Other places want us; but we cannot
supply them. I must not neglect the Burra. I am engaged every night, not
even the Saturday excepted.76
Wright included two accounts of conversion that emphasised the power of the
revival. His metaphors – such as ‘the Ethiopian has changed his skin and the leopard
his spots’ – accentuated the conversionary drama as told in one of his accounts:
A few nights ago, one of the most sensual Bacchanalians was so melted
under the burning truth of God’s word that all his long-indulged appetites
74
CW&MJ, 12 November 1897, 4.
Statement by R.C. Flockhart (Wesleyan minister) reported in the CW&MJ, 12 November 1897, 4.
76
Letter (undated) John G. Wright to Missionary Committee, Primitive Methodist Magazine (London:
1858), 184-186.
75
89
were brought into holy submission to the power of the Cross – the lion was
taken by the mane and arrested in his path, his savageness gave place to
redeeming love, he was led like a lamb to the Fountain opened, and was
seen sitting at the feet of Jesus clothed, and in his right mind. This poor man
has spent a fortune in drink, has laid all night in the creeks of the township,
has been led home almost naked, and often for hours has he been heard
cursing everything around him. His wife trembled before him as a lamb
before a tiger; he was the terror of the family; but now that house, once the
scene of wretchedness, is the gate of heaven. For some days, he was
drinking the wormwood and the gall; but after a long and painful struggle,
his soul was brought into liberty. He ran round the room praising God for his
goodness: he grasped every one by the hand, saying, “Bless the Lord! Bless
the Lord! BLESS THE LORD!”77
Although the 1858 revival touched the life of all the churches at Burra, the three
Methodist branches, according to Flockhart, experienced ‘the blessedness of
Methodist union in spirit’.78 Three branches of Methodism coalesced at Burra in a
spiritual unity that foreshadowed the achievement of organic unity in 1900. The
number of professed conversions amounted to 500.79
1859
The ‘showers of blessing’ that favoured the Burra churches in 1858, became
more widespread throughout the colony in the following year. In September 1859, in
a letter to the English Wesleyan Methodist Magazine, the Rev. William Butters, as
Chairman of the South Australian District, claimed that ‘in almost every Circuit in
the District there is a gracious revival of God’s work’. He went on to add that in ‘the
last few weeks’ at least ‘300 persons have cast in their lot with us’.80
The next Burra revival commenced in May 1859 and continued to ‘increase in
strength until at least November’.81 The Rev. James Whittaker, Primitive Methodist
minister appointed to Kooringa at the beginning of 1859, reported soon after his
arrival that ‘we have a blessed work going on here, one of the best and most solid
77
Wright to Missionary Committee, 184.
CW&MJ, 12 November 1897, 4.
79
Alvey, Burra, its Mines and Methodism, 8; CW&MJ, 12 November 1897, 4.
80
Letter Rev. William Butters of 17 September 1859 to Wesleyan Methodist Magazine. Letter
reproduced in Methodist Magazine, December 1859, 1132. The Methodist Journal (South Australia)
re-stated the claim in an editorial entitled Thoughts on Religious Revivals. See MJ, 3 September 1875,
1. At this time, South Australia like the other Australian colonies had District status.
81
South Australian Weekly Chronicle, 5 November 1859, 1. Another report in the same issue of the
Weekly Chronicle stated that the revival had discontinued by November. See page 3.
78
90
revivals I have witnessed since I left Birmingham’.82 Despite failing health,
Whittaker continued until the end of the year when he was relieved of his pastorate.
He later reported that 500 conversions had taken place at the Burra in a three-month
period.83
At the beginning of 1859, the Bible Christians, like their Primitive Methodist
cousins, welcomed new ministers. Soon after James Way arrived at Burra, he
commenced special services. At first, his efforts yielded little result with only one
reported conversion in the first week. Despite some discord within the church, Way
continued with the services and saw attendances increase to around 500 as
conversions multiplied in numbers as the ‘saving power increased’.84 Under Way’s
preaching, between 250 to 300 conversions reportedly took place, and across all
churches upwards of 500 conversions occurred, which resulted in an estimated
increase of 250 members to all the churches.85
Many of Burra’s residents and in particular the Cornish mining elements had
some knowledge of the Bible and its teaching on sin, the person of Jesus, and
salvation. 86 When such persons were subject to the ‘fiery eloquence’ of the revivalist
preacher R. C. Flockhart, or the ‘equally successful’ Way, their impassioned and
vigorous preaching elicited the anticipated outcome: repentant confession for the
pardoned sinner, followed by inclusion into chapel life and behaviour.87 Almost forty
years later, Way’s son, Sir Samuel Way, at the time the Chief Justice of South
Australia, referred to the events of 1859 as the ‘great revival’ and regarded it as the
‘highest point attained in his father’s ministry’. 88
One striking feature of the 1859 revival was the changed drinking practices of
previously regular hotel patrons. At a meeting of the Total Abstinence Society held
82
SAPMR, October 1863, 6.
J. Edwin Orr, Evangelical Awakenings in the South Seas (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany Fellowship,
1976), 55.
84
Burra Record, 7 September 1898, 3; Alvey, Burra, its Mines and Methodism, 11.
85
Burra Record, 7 September 1898, 3; Alvey, Burra, its Mines and Methodism, 11; South Australian
Register, 28 August 1884, 3; ACC, 18 October 1907, 4; South Australian Weekly Chronicle, 5
November 1859, 3.
86
Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 77.
87
South Australian Weekly Chronicle, 5 November 1859, 3; Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 77.
88
Burra Record, 7 September 1898, 3. James Way died at Noarlunga, South Australia in1884 aged
80. For obituaries on James Way see SABCM, November 1884; South Australian Register, 28 August
1884, 3.
83
91
in Adelaide in November 1859, the South Australian Weekly Chronicle reported:
Mr Dale, in speaking of that district, said that as far as the drinking customs
of the people were concerned, he never saw such a change in his life; for
when he first went there, he never had seen such a drunken people; but about
five months ago there was an extraordinary change. A strong religious
revival then took place, which had continued up to the present time,
increasing in strength; and now instead of the public-houses being filled
after the hours of labour were over, which previously was the characteristic
of the place, there were now religious meetings every night in the week,
which were attended by publicans, their barman, and even their ostlers;
which showed how extensively the habits of temperance were increasing
when persons like they were could spare time to attend religious worship.
He stated that, on some occasions he had passed as many as a dozen public
houses at the Burra and Redruth in one evening without seeing a single
drinker in one of them.89
According to the report, the prosecution of revivalism in 1859 swelled the churches
at the expense of the public houses – this lasted from at least May through to early
November. Revivalism allied to teetotalism strengthened both causes and for the
churches, it filled pews and contribution boxes.
The Bible Christians in particular benefitted from the revival. In 1859 they
commenced work on building a new chapel. In June 1860, they opened a new church
at Kooringa capable of seating 600 at a cost of £2,217; it was considered the ‘finest
in the town’. Many of the sittings in the new church ‘were let twice over’, and the
Sunday School with 600 scholars was the largest in the colony.90 For both the
revivalist and the teetotaller 1859 was a good year.
At times, for many of the miners and workers at Burra, revivalism and
temperance co-existed with the influence of the public house. The day after the new
Bible Christian chapel was opened, the Miners’ and Tradesmen’s Club celebrated its
anniversary by processing through the town, headed by a band, to the Wesleyan
chapel and then on to the Court House Hotel ‘where they passed a merry and jovial
evening’.91 For a time, the warring parties were content to call a truce in the interests
89
South Australian Weekly Chronicle, 5 November 1859, 1. The reported observation of well-attended
church meetings and deserted public houses is substantiated by another report (‘Kooringa’) in the
same issue. See page 3. The revival’s affect on public houses is also noted in the South Australian
Weekly Chronicle, 8 October 1859, 2.
90
SABCM, August 1876, 202. CW&MJ, 26 May 1899, 10.
91
South Australian Advertiser, 2 July 1860, 3. The new Bible Christian chapel opened on Sunday 24
June 1860.
92
of a common cause. The anniversary celebration thrived on the energy released from
the mix of radicalised sobriety and indulgence of the public house.
The revivals of 1858 and 1859 coincided with the height of the mine’s prosperity.
The workforce reached its peak figure of 1,170, and the mine paid a record £178,900
in wages and expenses. At the same time, however, the costs increased as the mine
deepened. Furthermore, the price of copper fell by 50 per cent in three years from its
peak of £126 per ton in 1858, to £87 per ton in Adelaide in 1861. Even more
alarmingly, the 1858 profit per ton of £4-8-3 fell to £1-14-8 in 1859.92 Buoyant
economics may have assisted praiseworthy revivalist sentiments in 1858 and the
early part of 1859, but a looming economic downturn in the latter part of 1859 and
1860 may also have precipitated revivalist urgings for Divine intervention. By
contrast, the prospect of a promising wheat harvest in the Central Hill Country
during 1860 would have provided Methodist farmers and townsfolk with sufficient
reason for revivalist ardour in the best traditions of a prospective bountiful harvest
thanksgiving.93 At times, contrasting economic conditions and outcomes may have
resulted in similar revivalist sentiments even within the same region.
1860
Kapunda and Auburn
Inspired by the 1858-59 Burra revivals, two newly appointed ministers with
revivalist aspirations who were sent to Kapunda and Auburn in 1860 saw revivalism
radiate out from Burra. The Wesleyan, Henry Thomas Burgess (1839-1923),
commenced his pastorate at Kapunda in April 1860.94 Eighty kilometres northeast of
Adelaide and ninety-three kilometres south of Burra, Kapunda was the railway
terminus for the northern line. The revival commenced on Whitsunday (Pentecost)
on 27 May 1860 as a ‘day of great spiritual power’. On the following Tuesday, a
teachers’ meeting became a prayer meeting, which concluded at 1 am. At nightly
92
Burra History at http://www.burrahistory.info/BurraHistory.htm (25 January 2016). I have included
the lower employment figure as used previously.
93
For a promising assessment of the 1860 harvest see ‘The Northern Crops’, South Australian
Advertiser, 4 December 1860, 3.
94
Arnold D. Hunt, ‘Burgess, Henry Thomas (1839-1923)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography,
National Centre of Biography, Australian National University,
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/burgess-henry-thomas-5427/text9205, (25 January 2016).
93
revival services, Burgess preached for conversion, secured 200 ‘commitments’,
admitted 150 as members on trial, and oversaw 200 join the church by the end of the
year. The 200 ‘commitments’ represented 10 per cent of Kapunda’s population.95
The results were impressive. The revival spread to other churches in Kapunda
including the Bible Christians whose numbers ‘were largely increased’. Reminiscing
in 1899, Burgess claimed the revival was ‘an answer to prayer and his covenant with
God’. Some considered the spiritual awakening as ‘the greatest revival Kapunda had
ever experienced’.96
Watervale
A month after the Kapunda revival started, a ‘great revival’ broke out at
Watervale on 1 July 1860 and spread to Auburn the following day.97 Situated nine
kilometres north of Auburn on the Adelaide to Clare road, Watervale was a very
small township with a population of less than 150, a daily coach service to Kapunda,
a post office, a telegraph station, a school, two hotels and a Bible Christian chapel
which opened in 1855.98 Even before the revival of 1860, Watervale’s Bible
Christian membership increased dramatically from around ten in 1858 to sixty-seven
in the following year.99 Watervale and Auburn benefitted from the rapid expansion of
agricultural settlements in the region during the 1850s. Auburn was a resting place
for the bullock teams that carted copper ore from Burra to Port Wakefield on St.
Vincent Gulf for shipment to Welsh smelters.
Located forty-six kilometres north of Kapunda on the main northern road from
Adelaide, Auburn contained a mechanics’ institute, schoolhouse, post and money
order office, local courthouse, telegraph and police stations, a bank branch, two
hotels, two general stores, a flour mill, and a Bible Christian church. The Church of
95
Whitworth, Bailliere’s South Australian Gazetteer and Road Guide, 115. Kapunda’s population was
1,898 in 1861.
96
South Australian Weekly Chronicle, 30 June 1860, 1; Kapunda Herald, 22 September 1899, 3;
ACC, 26 November 1909, 5. Revivals were not unknown in the copper mining town of Kapunda. A
‘glorious revival’ took place during the ministry of the Rev W. Brown in 1857-58. See Kapunda
Herald, 9 May 1946, 2. There were others as well, referred to in the Kapunda Herald, 22 September
1899, 3.
97
Ian Paull, Methodism in Auburn and District (Adelaide: Methodist Historical Society, 1961), 6.
98
Whitworth, Bailliere’s South Australian Gazetteer and Road Guide, 1866, 269. Paull, Methodism in
Auburn and District, 16.
99
Paull, Methodism in Auburn and District, 6.
94
England was built in 1862, and by 1875 both the Wesleyans and Primitive
Methodists had established churches in the town. The Bible Christians were always
the ‘most virile’ of the Methodist groupings.100 The population numbered about 200
persons in 1866.101
In a memorial notice on the death of the Rev. Thomas Hillman (1823-1907) in
1907, the author considered the Auburn revival as:
One of the most remarkable revivals in the history of the colony. The whole
district was aroused and, while the movement was at its height, business was
well-nigh suspended, day schools were closed, and hundreds of men,
women, and children were brought into the kingdom of God.102
Few details of the revival survive. Sent by the English Missionary Committee to
South Australia in 1856, Hillman was posted to Burra before arriving at Auburn in
April 1860. Present at the sixth annual district meeting of the Bible Christian Church
held at the Young Street Chapel, Adelaide, in February 1860, Hillman was well
aware of the denomination’s desire to experience revival. Four addresses on revival
delivered one evening during the conference underscored the importance of
maintaining the momentum of revival activity in the colony.103
Bible Christian services had commenced at Auburn in 1852 in the local
blacksmith shop, prior to the construction of the first chapel in 1854. Because of the
1860 revival, a new building capable of seating 300 was opened in October 1861 at a
cost of £1,036. Soon afterwards, the building proved inadequate to contain the
growing congregation. In 1866, the construction of galleries increased the seating
capacity to 500. At the September Quarterly Meeting of 1860, the following
resolution entered the record:
That this meeting express hearty and devout thanks to Almighty God for the
gracious outpouring of His Holy Spirit on the church during the past quarter,
100
Paull, Methodism in Auburn and District, 4, 5.
Whitworth, Bailliere’s South Australian Gazetteer and Road Guide, 1866, 21. South Australian
Weekly Chronicle, 17 November 1860, 2. The population is estimated at around 150 in 1860. It was
200 in 1866. See Whitworth, Bailliere’s South Australian Gazetteer and Road Guide, 1866, 21. In
1851 there were only five houses in Auburn. See South Australian Register, 15 July 1851, 3.
102
ACC, 16 August 1907, 5.
103
South Australian Register, 15 March 1860, 3.
101
95
whereby upwards of 200 souls have been added to our membership.104
Church membership at Auburn then stood at 281, up from sixty-seven the previous
year, which was an increase of 214 members. In the same period, from 1859 to 1860,
Bible Christian membership in South Australia increased from 1,049 (exclusive of
sixty-three on trial) to 1,283 (fifty-one on trial), an increase of 234 full members. The
Auburn revival of 1860, therefore accounted for 91 per cent of the total membership
increase for South Australia in that year.105 It is significant that the number of
conversions and consequent additions to the Auburn church membership exceeded
the estimated population of Auburn in 1860 of 150, as the catchment area was much
larger than the town. It is likely that some of the day school children educated by the
colony’s Board of Education underwent some kind of conversionary experience.
There was one such school in Auburn in 1860, which consisted of thirty-one
students, fourteen of whom were boys and seventeen girls.106
In the aftermath of the Auburn 1860 revival, a Band of Hope established in
December 1866 also had the capacity to draw in juveniles from throughout the
district. Within eighteen months the membership stood at 259, with branches at
Skillogolee Creek and Undalya. The Band of Hope met fortnightly and had its own
eighteen-member fife and drum band.107 The widespread transforming power of the
revival maintained its effect on the largely Bible Christian community intent on
maintaining and spreading its total abstinence stance.
Angaston
At about the same time as the Auburn revival, the Wesleyan chapel at Angaston,
located seventy-two kilometres south-east of Auburn experienced a revival. There
were nightly prayer meetings conducted in an earnest manner and ‘numerous
conversions’.108 At the time, Angaston was part of the Kapunda circuit, so it is likely
that the revival that started at Kapunda in May under H. T. Burgess had spread to
104
ACC, 8 April 1904, 13.
Colony-wide membership figures for the years 1860 and 1861 respectively published in South
Australian Advertiser, 15 March 1860, 3 and South Australian Weekly Chronicle, 9 March 1861, 1.
106
‘Report of Board of Education 1860’, SAPP 34, 1860, 10.
107
Adelaide Observer, 27 June 1868, 15.
108
South Australian Register, 10 August 1860, 3.
105
96
Angaston by the July.109
Mintaro
Meanwhile at Mintaro, sixteen kilometres northeast of Auburn, a ‘great revival’
also broke out among the Wesleyans. Mintaro was a rest stop on the Burra-AuburnPort Wakefield route for the bullock teams carting copper ore to the port and
returning with coal. On Sundays large numbers of teamsters rested up in the town.110
Mintaro was part of the fertile Central Hill Country region and was settled by small
farmers, many of whom were ex-Burra miners and some returnees from the Victorian
goldfields in the early to mid-1850s.111 The population of the Mintaro area in 1866
was 350, and some of the local farmers were prominent Methodists. The Wesleyans
and the Primitive Methodists both had churches in the town, which had its own flour
mill, post and money order office, and two hotels.112 The town’s Wesleyan Sunday
school commenced in 1855 with an enrolment of sixty-five scholars, and an average
attendance of around fifty every Sunday. Its teaching focussed on scripture
memorisation. In the school’s first year, the scholars learnt 17,000 scripture verses
(at an average of 340 verses per person).113 By comparison, thirty-six Sunday school
scholars from the Upper Light Primitive Methodist Church memorized an average of
ninety-nine scripture verses and forty-eight hymn verses in 1870.114 By the time
Methodist children claimed their conversion during revivalist meetings or
traditionally at the annual ‘Decision Day’115, they were familiar with substantial
portions of the Bible and Methodist Hymn Book. Methodist Sunday schools were not
only efficient in attracting disproportionately large numbers of children, but in
109
Angaston became the head of its own circuit in 1867. See Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 78.
CW&MJ, 3 August 1900, 9.
111
CW&MJ, 15 February 1895, 3.
112
Whitworth, Bailliere’s South Australian Gazetteer and Road Guide, 1866, 141-142; Paull,
Methodism, in Auburn and District, 12.
113
Paull, Methodism in Auburn and District, 13.
114
Upper Light Primitive Methodist Church: Sunday school verse book 1864-1880. SLSA SRG
4/46/171.
115
The annual ‘Decision Day’ provided the scholar with an opportunity to make a commitment to
Christ. The annual Conference statistics from 1905 included the numbers of Methodist Sunday
schools that observed ‘Decision Day’. It averaged at approximately 50% over the period 1905 to
1939. On Methodist Sunday schools see Brian Kelley, Nurseries for Christians? Methodist Sunday
Schools in South Australia (Malvern, SA: Uniting Church Historical Society, 1989).
110
97
providing the revivalist preacher with the next batch of potential converts.116
Leasingham and Undalya
Two further revivals occurred in the Auburn area in 1860. They merited a brief
reference in the South Australian Register, which reported on the topic of talks given
by the Rev. J. Ridclift in September 1860 on the first anniversary of the Undalya
Bible Christian Chapel. Ridclift gave three talks on the topic of revivals ‘which had
taken place on so extensive a scale in Auburn, Watervale, Leasingham, and, to a
minor degree, at Undalya’.117 This entry appears to be the only reference to the
Leasingham and Undalya revivals. Leasingham was a hamlet on the cross roads
between Auburn-Watervale and Mintaro-Skilly. Situated on the main northern road
between Auburn and Clare, it possessed a hotel, day school, and a Wesleyan church
and Sunday school. The population was 130 in 1866.118
Undalya was an even smaller hamlet with a population in 1866 of 80. Located six
kilometres south of Auburn, Undalya had two hotels, a post office, and a school of
twenty-nine children. The Bible Christians had a church in which the day school met.
The Undalya church in 1859 had a membership of fifteen, some of whom
experienced conversion in the revival.119 At the celebration of its first anniversary on
Sunday 23 September 1860, in addition to the three talks by Ridclift in the morning,
the total abstinence advocate for the Barossa, John Williams spoke in the afternoon.
A public meeting and tea took place on the following Monday, which included hymn
singing. The church was ‘crowded by visitors from Auburn and the surrounding
neighbourhood, who partook of the good cheer bountifully provided by the ladies of
Undalya’.120 Revivalism produced converts, enhanced the public image of the
Undalya church, and strengthened the Bible Christian identity of the Undalya,
Leasingham and Auburn communities.
116
For example, at the 1860 census, there were in the colony 43,587 persons listed as Church of
England representing 44.5% of the population. The Methodist denominations numbered 22,210
persons or 22.7% of the population. However, Church of England Sunday schools in 1861 numbered
2,668 scholars or 14.5% of total enrolments, whilst the Methodists returned 10,174 scholars at 55.5%
of total enrolments. See Vamplew, Australians: Historical Statistics, 424, 434.
117
South Australian Register, 28 September 1860, 3.
118
Whitworth, Bailliere’s South Australian Gazetteer and Road Guide, 1866, 124.
119
South Australian Register, 28 September 1860, 3; Paull, Methodism in Auburn and District, 6.
120
South Australian Register, 28 September 1860, 3.
98
Significance of the Revivals
Events like these, including the revivals they spawned, were significant religious
and social moments in the intensive farming communities of the region. Some of the
farmers were the sons of first generation settlers who established the first holdings
immediately north of Adelaide, in the Hills to the east of the city around Mount
Barker, or southwards on the Fleurieu Peninsula. As agriculture and mining
expanded northwards in the late 1840s and 50s, the second generation provided much
of the labour force. Many of them formed their self-identity not only as wheat
farmers, but also by the vital religion they pursued and by a pioneering spirit
reminiscent of their fathers. For example, apart from a mechanics’ institute at
Auburn and the mandatory hotels in the towns, the lack of even rudimentary social
infrastructure meant that the Methodist Church with its teas, public meetings, Sunday
schools, class meetings, recitals, picnics, and Sunday services provided opportunities
for social, recreational, and religious needs. As a focus of community engagement,
the church’s revival meetings, for many, were an integral part of the Methodist way
of life.
The Burra revivals of 1858-60, consisted of three inter-linked movements of
revivalism with local, regional, and colony-wide aspects, and were contextualised in
a historical narrative that extended over at least the previous decade. Beginning in
1858, the revival that affected Burra possessed revivalist roots that extended back to
the late 1840s. Annual revivals were part of the regular rhythm of Burra church life,
particularly among the Methodist denominations. What was unique about the
outbreak of religious enthusiasm in 1858 was its intensity and pervasive nature. All
the Methodist churches experienced revivals, characterised by outbursts of praise,
emotionalism, seekers of mercy, and conversions. Scenes of spontaneous singing
broke out in the township, and men in the mines became overwhelmed with emotion.
Hotels lost many of their customers and 500 conversions took place. The revival
affected the whole community.
The Burra revival of 1859 occurred in the context of a colony-wide movement in
which almost every Methodist circuit underwent some aspect of revivalist activity.
Of six-months duration, the Burra revival secured an estimated 500 conversions. To
99
accommodate the increased congregations, a number of churches underwent building
programmes, the most noticeable of which was a new church erected by the Bible
Christians in 1859 capable of seating 600.
In 1860, the Burra revivals of 1858 and 59 spread to the townships of Kapunda,
Watervale, Auburn, Angaston, Mintaro, Leasingham, and Undalya. Kapunda
recorded 200 conversions and an additional 200 members, while Auburn welcomed
an additional 214 members by the end of 1861. Overall, for the three years, the
revivals produced an estimated 1,200 conversions and 664 new members.
Some Effects of the Revival
One significant effect of the revivals in Burra in 1858 and 1859 was a reduction
in hotel patronage brought about by changes in drinking habits. According to one
report, the change was particularly dramatic, when, at the height of the 1859 revival,
the hotels were virtually empty every night while the churches were well attended.121
Another effect of the 1858 and 1859 revivals in Burra was the later influence that
many converts, or those connected with the revivals, exercised in the life of the
Methodist Church or other churches throughout South Australia and other
colonies.122 These included the Rev. William Williams (1848-1913), 123 Dr. H. T.
Burgess (1839-1923),124 Dr. W. G. Torr (1853-1939),125 the Rev. Harry
Wilkinson,126 the Rev. J. A. Burns,127 and Miss Jessie Wilkinson. 128 Burra was the
121
South Australian Weekly Chronicle, 5 November 1859, 1.
Refer footnote 2 for Rev. F.W. Bourne. Further research may reveal the extent of the influence of
the Burra converts. It is noteworthy that although the evidence is not yet available for the duration of
these conversions, it is likely that the majority remained in the faith. Quoting the work of Professor
Edwin D. Starbuck, William James concludes that the effect of conversion is to bring with it a
‘changed attitude towards life, which is fairly constant and permanent, although the feelings
fluctuate…In other words, the persons who have passed through conversion, having once taken a
stand for the religious life, tend to feel themselves identified with it, no matter how much religious
enthusiasm declines’. William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience (Pacific Publishing
Studio, 2010), 109, reprint of 1902 edn.
123
Born in Burra to Cornish parents and converted in the 1858 revival when age ten, Williams was
president of the Australasian Methodist General Conference 1907-1910. On Williams, see T.M.
O’Connor, ‘Williams, William’, ADEB, 407; ACC, 18 October 1907, 4.
124
A scholar, then teacher and secretary of the Wesleyan Sunday school at Kooringa from 1848,
Burgess became a Methodist minister and was twice president of the Wesleyan Conference in South
Australia (1880 & 1890), and of the Wesleyan General Conference (1897-1901). See ACC, 18
October 1907, Arnold D. Hunt, ‘Burgess, Henry Thomas’, ADEB, 56-57.
125
On Torr, see footnote 22, chapter 6.
126
Wilkinson was accepted into the Wesleyan ministry after Burra, and in 1906 was president of the
122
100
high-water mark in their spiritual journey, and influenced their vocational
orientations toward service in Methodist churches.
The Transmission of Revival
The revivals, which occurred at Burra and in the Central Hill Country from 1858
to 1860, were subject to the spread of revivalism, both local and international.
Throughout 1858, leading Adelaide newspapers provided periodic coverage to the
American Revival of 1857-58.129 Often referred to as a ‘great religious revival’ and
compared favourably to the ‘Great Awakening’ under Jonathan Edwards (17031758), the articles reported on such topics as its spread afterwards throughout the
country, its contagious nature, effects, numbers of conversions, the holding of
widespread daily prayer meetings, and its results.130 In her study of the American
Revival of 1857-58, Kathryn Long claimed that the newspapers helped to define and
shape the events through publicity and promotion. For ‘the first time in the
nineteenth-century, revivalism was splashed across the front page of a secular
newspaper…the revival became a media event’.131 According to J. Edwin Orr, the
awakening received favourable coverage in the secular press.132
Likewise, extensive Adelaide press coverage of the American Revival continued
in 1859. Other reports included the evangelical awakenings that commenced in
Ulster in early 1859, and elsewhere in the United Kingdom. Articles covered such
topics as revival origins, divine or human instrumentality, physical manifestations,
effects of the revival such as the giving up of swearing and drinking, and the
Western Australian Conference. See ACC, 18 October 1907, 4.
127
Scholar at the Wesleyan Sunday school at Kooringa. Ordained into the Presbyterian ministry. See
ACC, 18 October 1907, 4.
128
Miss Wilkinson was a scholar then teacher in the Sunday school and later missionary to New
Britain. See ACC, 18 October 1907, 4.
129
See for example, South Australian Register, 18 May 1858, 3; 14 June 1858, 2; 14 July 1858, 3; 17
July 1858, 3; 21 August 1858, 2; Adelaide Observer, 19 June 1858, 2.
130
Jonathan Edwards, grounded in reformed theology, played a pivotal role in shaping the First Great
Awakening in America, and experienced some of the early revivals in 1733-35 as pastor of his church
at Northampton, Massachusetts. Reports of overseas revivals further stimulated Methodist interest in
revival work.
131
Kathryn Teresa Long, The Revival of 1857-58: Interpreting an American Religious Awakening
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 26, 27.
132
J. Edwin Orr, The Flaming Tongue: Evangelical Awakenings (Chicago: Moody Press, 1973), xv.
101
adoption of new disciplines of piety such as Bible reading and prayer.133 Increasingly
aware of the unfolding international revival movement and the Burra revivals, one
Wesleyan correspondent to the South Australian Advertiser called for combined
denominational prayer meetings, so that ‘South Australia may bear its part in the
great religious revivals now going forward in America, the northern country, and
other places’.134 The Methodists were not the only denomination reported on with an
interest in the overseas revivals. Revivals were the main topic at a tea meeting held
in the United Presbyterian Church, Gouger Street, Adelaide, in October 1859.
Various speakers addressed different aspects of the revivals in America, England,
Ireland and Scotland. Included, were topics such as physical manifestations, and
whether the revivals would continue, aided by a common evangelicalism.135
Keen to provide a ‘dispassionate review of the whole matter’, the South
Australian Advertiser reproduced an extended article from the Liverpool Mercury of
24 June 1859. Citing eyewitness accounts, the article concluded that the revival in
Ireland was a ‘work of God’, and that there was no attempt to ‘get up’ a revival or to
‘keep it up’. Furthermore, the article included reports of the ease with which random
attempts at preaching, even in remote rural locations attracted spontaneous crowds
eager to hear the self-appointed heralds, some of whom had given up their
professions to undertake itinerant preaching. Some physical effects on hearers
observed included bodily prostrations, loud cries, sobbing, and inability to stand
unaided. The writer contended that the absence of religious formalities and
‘speculative belief’ indicated the presence of a ‘vital religion established of God, in
which all sects heartily cooperated’. Also stated was the predominance of lay
leadership and the revival’s ability to spread.136 A week later, the Advertiser
reported:
Revivalism at Kooringa [Burra] has been carried on to a great extent, in fact
133
See for example, South Australian Advertiser, 6 September 1859, 2; 29 September 1859, 3; 12
December 1859, 2; South Australian Register, 6 September 1859, 3; 27 October 1859, 3; 14
November 1859, 2, 3.
134
South Australian Advertiser, 31 August 1859, 3.
135
South Australian Advertiser, 18 October 1859, 2.
136
South Australian Advertiser, 29 September 1859, 3. The article’s author was the Wesleyan
minister, John Peters, and formed the basis of an address requested by his congregation on the revival
in the north of Ireland in 1859. Peters travelled to revival locations, observed proceedings and
gathered additional information for the address.
102
we think exceeding the accounts we have heard of a similar movement in
Ireland. It has undoubtedly done much good and reclaimed many persons,
the conversion of whom we trust will be lasting. The public houses are not
so busy of an evening as they used to be, and some of the members of the
cricket club have left.137
A theme relatively common in revival correspondence was the ability of revivals
to spread from one location to another. In December 1859, the South Australian
Advertiser noted in relation to overseas revivals that:
The extraordinary religious revivals continue to operate, and to spread from
country to country with truly marvellous power and rapidity.138
Stuart Piggin claims that the revival in Wales and Ulster in 1859 ‘was really exported
to Australia’.139 Certainly, Wales and Ulster reinforced and boosted revivalism in
Australia. Not only was it possible for the influence of revivals to transcend
international boundaries in the mid-nineteenth-century, the Burra revival of 1858 and
1859 had intra-colony reach as it spread to the Central Hill Country south and southwest of Burra, namely to Kapunda, Watervale, Auburn, Angaston, Mintaro,
Leasingham, and Undalya in 1860. The diffusion of revivalism evident in rural South
Australia in 1860 was consistent with the international thrust of evangelicalism:
From its beginnings in the 1730s the evangelical movement has transcended
the boundaries of geography, language and politics. In the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries, however, the international character of evangelical
linkages was apparent primarily in terms of the mutual exchange of spiritual
and cultural influences across the North Atlantic between North America
and Europe, particularly the British Isles. Asia, Australasia, Africa and (on a
much lesser scale) Latin America were the objects of evangelical missionary
activity.140
The revivalist dimension of evangelical internationalism was readily accessible
through the pages of the religious press, but also importantly through the secular
press as well. The influence of overseas revivals in promoting local activity in the
137
South Australian Advertiser, 7 October 1859, 2.
South Australian Advertiser, 12 December 1859, 2.
139
Piggin, Spirit, Word and World: Evangelical Christianity in Australia, 43. According to Piggin, the
mode of export occurred through two religious newspapers, The Revival, published in London, and the
Christian Pleader, published in Australia. No mention is made of the secular press, which had a far
greater distribution in the colony, and therefore added to the influence of church papers such as the
Methodist ACC.
140
Brian Stanley, The Global Diffusion of Evangelicalism: The Age of Billy Graham and John Stott
(Downers Grove, IL: Inter Varsity Press, 2013), 61.
138
103
period 1858 to 1860 was in addition to the influence and effect of local revivals.
Since the colony’s foundation, local revivals were often independent of overseas
influence.
Although the Moonta revival of 1875 occurs later in the chronology of South
Australian Methodist revivalism, it is appropriate before advancing this study to
comment on what is considered the most significant aspect of the Burra and Central
Hill Country revivals of 1858 to 1860, which distinguishes them from other revivals,
and Moonta in particular. The Burra (1858-1860) and Moonta (1875) revivals are
classic examples of the interplay of Cornish ethnicity, mining, and Methodist
revivalism. 141 What is unique about Burra and the Central Hill Country revivals, is
the impact of the ‘transmission of revivalism’. Burra Methodism was both the
recipient of revivalist influences, as well as transmitting revivalist influences
elsewhere. It was nurtured by international and colonial revivalism, and in turn,
influenced other locations in the Central Hill Country to experience their own
revivals. Although the Moonta revival of 1875 secured more conversions, its
influence was largely confined to the Moonta mining community in early 1875, and
shortly thereafter to the Moonta township. The ‘transmission of revivalism’ to and
from Burra in the years 1858 to 1860 is perhaps the most distinguishing
characteristic that sets Burra apart from other revivals within South Australian
Methodism.
Revivalist Preachers
The cyclical and pulsating pattern of Cornish-Methodist revivalist practice at
Burra promoted a sense of expectancy that revival would occur.142 Methodist
preachers enhanced and promoted the cyclical nature of revivalism. The revivals of
1858 to 1860 occurred in an ongoing continuum of expectant and periodic
revivalism. 143 Fervent exponents of their gospel religion at Burra, coupled with an
141
On the Moonta revival of 1875, see Bebbington, Victorian Religious Revivals, 193-228.
Recent scholarship has highlighted the relevance of families, piety, and local churches in fostering
and promoting an expectation of revival. See for example Carwardine, Transatlantic Revivalism;
Kenneth S. Jeffrey, When the Lord walked the Land: The 1858-62 Revival in the North East of
Scotland (Carlisle: Paternoster, 2002); Andrew. R. Holmes, ‘The Ulster Revival of 1859: Causes,
Controversies and Consequences’, Journal of Ecclesiastical History 63, no. 3 (July 2012): 488-515.
143
Further revivals occurred at Burra/Kooringa in 1862, 1867, 1869, 1872, 1874, 1877, 1879, 1881,
142
104
expectation of periodic revival, in the decade 1850 to 1860 included the Bible
Christian ministers James Rowe (1850-56) John Ridclift (1853 -57) and James Way
(1859-61), the Primitive Methodists John G. Wright (1856-58) and J. D. Whittaker,
and the Wesleyans Robert. C. Flockhart (1858-59) and T. Lloyd (1860).
Rowe and Ridclift were present during the little known Burra revival of 1853,
which coincided with the return of many who had left in the previous two years for
the Victorian gold rush. Known as a powerful preacher, and possessed of the
necessary tact in obtaining an audience with strangers, Rowe secured ‘hundreds of
conversions’, his influence being once described as ‘massive, convincing, and
converting’.144 With the more unassuming Ridclift who attracted revivals, the two
itinerant preachers ensured the spread of revivalism to a new land among migrant
peoples.145
Arguably, the fearless John Gibbon Wright was Burra’s greatest evangelist.146
Possessed with a ‘magnificent voice’ Wright preached with absolute conviction and
zeal in search of dramatic and powerful conversions.147 On arrival at Burra in early
1856, there were few, if any Primitive Methodists; on his departure in late 1858, he
‘handed over 166 souls to the care of his successor’.148 The revival of 1858 owes
much to his influence. If Wright was a driving force for the 1858 revival, then James
Way and Robert C. Flockhart were noteworthy in the following year.149
Under Way, one estimate put the number of Bible Christian conversions as
approaching 300, and with the fiery Wesleyan revivalist Robert Flockhart, they made
a substantial contribution to an estimated 500 conversions across all Methodist
churches.150 Through sustained preaching that emphasised sin, eternal punishment,
1882, 1904, and 1905. See Appendix 1.
144
SABCMag, November 1891, 380-381.
145
John Ridclift was 35 when he arrived in the colony in 1853. Born in North Devon, he entered the
Bible Christian ministry in 1850. James Rowe arrived with his colleague James Way in 1850. Rowe
went to Burra and Way commenced his work in Adelaide.
146
CW&MJ, 26 May 1899, 5.
147
Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 75.
148
CW&MJ, 26 May 1899, 5.
149
On his arrival in Burra in 1859, James Way was a past President with 24 years service in the
ministry. Robert Flockhart commenced his ministry in Adelaide in 1850 and by the time of his second
appointment to Burra in 1858, had ministered in Kapunda on two separate occasions. He was
experienced in the ways of Cornish mining communities.
150
Cited earlier in this chapter at footnote 85.
105
and salvation through the death of Jesus (vicarious atonement), they promoted a
revivalist ethos and elicited the required ‘conversions’.
The culmination of three years of revivalist energy occurred in November 1861
when the South Australian Primitive Methodists held their fifth annual District
Meeting at Burra. John Gibbon Wright returned to the scene of earlier labours and
later ruminated on the significance of the revivals. His description of an open-air
Sunday morning service held on the banks of the Burra Creek as part of the District
Meeting, could be mistaken for a Wesley or Whitefield gathering during the
Evangelical Revival:
The Sabbath was a time of great attraction. Early in the morning we
commenced singing in the streets in real old English style,
“O for a thousand tongues to sing,
My great Redeemer’s praise.”
As we moved on, the streets became thronged, and the power of the Highest
fell upon the people; some wept and praised God aloud. From the township
we moved on, in a dense body, to the campground.
A more beautiful place could not have been selected in the neighbourhood.
On a gentle declivity with the creek, the township, and the mine before us;
the smelting works on our right, and a range of hills behind us.
The day was delightful, not a leaf seemed to move. About 3,000 people were
listening to the words of life, and it is to be hoped many will have to bless
God for what they heard.151
The 3,000-person congregation far exceeded the Bible Christian and wider Methodist
constituency. It reflected the attractiveness and distinctiveness of Burra
evangelicalism with its unique revivalist ethos. Wright and the other Burra
evangelists proclaimed what they believed were the ‘words of life’, and would have
been well pleased with the demonstration of the ‘faith of their fathers’ in their
adopted land.
Conclusion
This chapter has sought to demonstrate the significance of the 1858 to 1860
Burra and Central Hill Country Hill Country revivals. The revivalist exuberance of
the Burra chapels and rural townships was a continuation of the inherited tradition of
the Evangelical Revival that found its own identity in the new colony as a
151
Primitive Methodist Magazine, June 1862, 370-371.
106
transportable spirituality of local and international influences. Revivalism flourished,
suited particularly to the egalitarianism and assurance of the Methodist message.
Cornish miners, in particular, faced with occupational dangers and mutual
dependence, exploited the ethnic-revivalist solidarity imported from their native
Cornwall. Faced with the economic uncertainties of mining and agriculture, populist
revivalism provided participants with an emotionally fulfilling communal religious
movement. Revivalism at Burra thrived on the energy released by dialectical tensions
within Methodism: heaven and hell, sobriety and drunkenness, saints and sinners,
economic boom and bust, and the communal noise, physicality, intensity, and
emotionalism of revival meetings, which contrasted with the predictability and quiet
introspection of the regular Sunday. Revivalism produced converts for Methodism,
which in turn, enabled social stability and sobriety. ‘Vital religion’, aided by
revivalism, flourished at Burra.
107
PART II 1866 – 1913
CHAPTER 5
EVANGELISTS AND REVIVALISM
William Taylor, American Methodism’s much travelled international missionary,
visited South Australia from July to December 1865, as part of his two and a half
years in Australia. This provided impetus to further outbreaks of localised
revivalism. Taylor’s visit was the first by an overseas revivalist. In the best traditions
of rugged Methodist individualism, Taylor exemplified a ‘remorseless pragmatism
and sheer optimism about what could be accomplished by a zealous minority’.1 This
is seen in the frequency and extent of localised revivalism throughout South
Australia in the period 1866 to 1913.2 This chapter begins with a statistical overview
of revivalism in the period 1866 to 1913. Also included in the chapter are selected
aspects of revivalism, including some of the local revivals in 1867, revivals and
depression in the 1880s, and the beginnings of the institutionalism of revivalism with
the appointment of David O’Donnell in 1887 as the first Wesleyan Conference
evangelist. The chapter concludes with an examination of the Bible Christian ‘Lady
Evangelists’ of the 1890s.
Revivalism – Statistical Overview – 1866-1913
Appendix 1 identifies 448 revival-type events in this period, which culminated
with the outbreak of the First World War. The number of self-described Methodists
in South Australia increased from 21.3 per cent (34,879) of the colonial population in
1866 (163,487) to 24.5 per cent (100,402) in 1911 (408,558), while actual church
membership increased from 7,626 to 19,262 in the same period. By way of
comparison, the Catholic self-described population decreased from 14.5 per cent
1
Hempton, Methodism: Empire of the Spirit, 168. Taylor preached to 5,000 at the opening services of
Kent Town Wesleyan Jubilee Church (Adelaide). He conducted numerous revivalist meetings
throughout South Australia during his six-month visit. At the end of 1865 the Wesleyans reported an
increase of 353 members with 724 on trial. See Appendix 1. Taylor claimed 6,000 conversions during
his visit to Australia. See William Taylor, Christian Adventures in South Africa (New York: Nelson
and Phillips, 1876), 2-3, 94-98, 451.
2
See Appendix 1.
108
(23,684) to 14.1 per cent (57,558), whilst the Anglicans also decreased from 30.1 per
cent (49,295) to 27.8 per cent (113,781). According to the Census data, the
Methodist self-described population increased to 23.3 per cent of the colony’s
population at the census of 1871 and hovered around the 22-26 per cent range until
1961 (22.3 per cent), the highest being 26.4 per cent in 1947. The figure declined to
15.7 per cent in 1976.3
Methodist membership expressed as a percentage of the total population shows a
slight decrease from 4.6 per cent in 1866 to 4.1 per cent in 1901. It increased again to
4.7 per cent in 1911.4 The number of conversions recorded from 1866 to 1899 was:
Bible Christian 3,245, Primitive Methodist 1,995, and Wesleyan 12,546; a total of
17,786, at an average of 539 conversions per year. There were 127 conversions
recorded for united Methodism in 1900-01, making a combined total from 1866 to
1901 of 17,913. Conversions therefore, from 1866 to 1901 accounted for 250.1 per
cent of the membership growth as membership only grew by 7,143 in the same
period. What this also means, is that approximately 10,000 converts did not become
members in the same period. The number of conversions recorded for united
Methodism from 1902 to 1913 was 3,728, at an average of 339 conversions per
year.5 Conversions from 1902 to 1911 accounted for 88.6 per cent of the membership
growth, as membership grew by 4,208 in the same period.
Furthermore, from 1866 to 1911, there was a 187 per cent increase in the
Methodist self-described population according to the Census data. At the same time,
there was a marginal increase of 1.07 per cent in the Methodist membership relative
to the total population. The Methodist self-described population increased at a
greater rate than the Methodist membership relative to the total population. By
comparison, Methodist membership growth only managed to maintain relative parity
with the growth of the population. This is significant, as not only was Methodism
able to maintain its membership share of the total population, but it was able to
expand the relative proportion of the population who formally identified with the
Methodist cause. By 1911, Methodist membership at 19,262 was larger than the
3
Census data from Vamplew, Australians: Historical Statistics, 26, 424, 429.
Vamplew, Australians: Historical Statistics, 26, 429.
5
Conversion figures tabulated from Appendix 1.
4
109
Anglicans at 15,589 members, and well ahead of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of
Australia (5,413), Churches of Christ (5,395), and Baptists (5,331).6
Of the 448 revival-type events from 1866 to 1913, 99 occurred in Adelaide or
within five kilometres of the city, and produced 5,286 converts.7 The remaining 349
occurred in rural townships and produced 16,355 converts. Of the country townships
that reported multiple revivals, Burra/Kooringa recorded the most with 12 revivaltype events in the period, six of which occurred after the copper mines closed in
1877 (1879, 1881(2), 1882, 1894, 1905).
How many revivals were planned and how many were spontaneous? From 1866
to 1913, 406 (90.7 per cent) revival-type events were categorised as R2 events
(deliberate meeting or campaign to deepen the faith of believers and bring nonbelievers to faith). Of the remainder, thirty-three (7.3 per cent) were categorised as
either R2 or R3 (an unplanned period of spiritual enlivening in a local church,
quickening believers and bringing unbelievers to faith), a further eight (1.8 per cent)
as R3, and one (0.2 per cent) as R4 (a regional experience of spiritual quickening and
widespread conversions).8 Almost 91 per cent of the revival-type activity
experienced during this period was co-incidental with deliberate action – it was
planned, while almost two per cent were assessed as an ‘unplanned period of
spiritual enlivening’. Just over seven per cent were either R2 or R3 as there was
insufficient information available to differentiate between the two categories. The
Moonta revival of 1875 (R4) was the only ‘regional experience of spiritual
quickening’ recorded. Summarising then, in the period 1866 to 1913, approximately
90 percent of revival-type activity was planned, while only two percent seemed to be
of a spontaneous nature. Within the time span there were a number of notable periods
of revivalism.
6
Calculations based on data, Vamplew, Australians: Historical Statistics, 424, 429.
Calculations figures from Appendix 3. Information on how many converts identified with the
respective denominations was not available for the 1909 Chapman-Alexander Crusade. Methodist
figures for the 1912 Crusade were available. The total number of converts for the 1909 Crusade (800)
were therefore included with the Methodist conversion figures (over-stated), and the number of
conversions for the 1912 Crusade at 463 (converts who became Methodist members – this is understated as there would have been many converts who identified with Methodism but did not go on to
membership). The total of 1,263, therefore, is an estimated number of Methodist converts.
8
See Appendix 1 for the complete listing of R1 to R6 categories.
7
110
Local Revivals – 1867
Local revivals were numerous, though unevenly spread over the entire period.
They varied between city and country, intensity and duration, and in the number of
conversions recorded. The first significant period for conversions occurred in 1867,
with 230 of the recorded 906 conversions for the year accounted for by a three
month-long revival that took place in the Wesleyan Adelaide First, Second, and
Third Circuits, initiated by a camp meeting led by the Rev. John Watsford. Further
revivals among Wesleyans occurred at Goolwa, Burra (embracing also Bible
Christians and Primitive Methodists), and Mount Barker. The Bible Christians
experienced revivals at Chain of Ponds, and in the Gawler Circuit, whilst the
Primitive Methodists had revival at Strathalbyn.9 The nine-week revival that
occurred in the Wesleyan Mount Barker Circuit was significant in that the majority
of the 220 converts were residents of Mount Barker township which had a population
of about 1,000 with 150 dwellings.10 The revival affected local households as well as
those in the surrounding area. Special means employed during the first four weeks
included midday, evening, and Sunday morning prayer meetings, public prayer
meetings, and preaching services. Simultaneous manifestations of the ‘Holy Spirit’s
operations’ were reported throughout the circuit for the next five weeks during which
the ‘power of God’ was present to save.11
Local revivals continued from 1868 to 1879 in all years except 1871. Revivals of
religion were considered central and essential to the work of the Methodist church, as
much in South Australia as throughout Australasia.12 In South Australia, from 1868
to 1879, the most significant revival recorded was the 1875 Moonta revival (1,500
conversions).13 Burra recorded the most number of revivals at seven (1867, 1869,
9
These revivals are listed by year at Appendix 1.
Whitworth, Bailliere’s South Australian Gazetteer and Road Guide, 25; SAWM, October 1867, 155157.
11
SAWM, October 1867, 156.
12
The declaration was made by the Rev. T. Williams, President of the Australasian Wesleyan
Methodist Conference which met in Sydney in 1873. See South Australian Advertiser, 25 January
1873, 2.
13
On the Moonta revival, see Bebbington, Victorian Religious Revivals, 193-228; Hunt, This Side of
Heaven, 123-126; Truth and Progress, July 1875, 73-75; November 1875, 133-134; July 1890, 114115; Oswald Pryor, Australia’s Little Cornwall (Adelaide: Rigby, 1962), chap. 12; Payton, Making
Moonta, 158-161; Evans, Early Evangelical Revivals in Australia, 364-378; Edwin A. Curnow, Bible
Christian Methodists in South Australia 1850-1900 (Black Forest, SA: Uniting Church SA Historical
10
111
1872, 1874, 1875, 1877, 1879), totalling 404 conversions at an average of fifty-seven
conversions per revival.14 Periodic revivals to re-instate the ‘backslider’ were a
feature of Cornish immigrant Methodism among the miners.15
Revivals and Depression – 1880s
The second significant period of revivalism occurred from 1880 to 1882 when
the Wesleyan Methodist layman, Matthew Burnett (1839-1896), visited South
Australia with his message of salvation and individual moral reform through
temperance.16 Noted for his flamboyant methods and, in the minds of some, his
unequivocal approach to link pledge-signing with conversion, Burnett toured the
colony extensively during his three-year stay. During this period, the Wesleyans
reported 2,496 conversions, the Bible Christians 448 conversions, and the Primitive
Methodists 306 conversions – a total of 3,250. Revivalist activity during 1883 was
noteworthy in the after-glow of the previous three years and due partly to the
influence of Mrs. Emilia Baeyertz and Mrs. Margaret Hampson, whom we shall
consider later in the chapter. In addition, there were nine revival-type events that
recorded between them 1,483 converts.17 Methodism’s use of professional
evangelists was justified by the results obtained.18 Wesleyan membership increased
from 4,938 in 1880 to 6,205 in 1882, and to 7,236 in 1883.19 Conversions achieved
in revivalist meetings had a significant upward effect on membership. This was
despite the difficult economic circumstances that prevailed from 1880-1882. There
were three bad harvests in a row from 1880-1882 due to drought and rust disease, as
optimistic wheat farmers planted crops well north of Goyder’s Line, lulled by the
Society, 2015), 381-391.
14
See Appendix 2.
15
Auhl, The Story of the ‘Monster Mine’, 24.
16
The Yorkshire born Matthew Burnett worked as a gospel-temperance evangelist in Australia from
1863 to 1889 (two years in New Zealand). For a detailed account of his life, see Robert Evans,
Matthew Burnett: The Yorkshire Evangelist, Australia’s Greatest Evangelist and Social Reformer
(Hazelbrook, NSW: Robert Evans, 2010).
17
Emilia Baeyertz known as a ‘converted Jewess’ came to Adelaide in November 1881 at the
invitation of Baptist ministers and laymen. She remained in the colony until 1884, conducting
missions at Baptist and some Methodist churches. Margaret Hampson conducted a ten-day mission in
Adelaide in July-August 1883. The Town Hall was crowded for her meetings. On Baeyertz and
Hampson, see Hilliard, Popular Revivalism, 13-17.
18
Hilliard, Popular Revivalism, 17.
19
See Appendices 1 and 3 for figures.
112
plentiful harvests and good rainfall of the 1870s.20 Combined with land speculation,
an abrupt fall in mining shares, a tight money market, and low copper prices, a
‘general depression’ brought ruin and difficulty to many by early 1883. Despite a
record harvest for the colony at the end of 1883 of fifteen million bushels, adequate
grain supplies throughout Australia and Europe brought a disappointing price, and
banks were reluctant to advance payments on grain shipped overseas. Consequently,
there was no significant change during 1883 in colonial finances.21
Economic and financial conditions also remained depressed from 1884 to 1886.
Despite a good wheat harvest at the end of 1884 and average crop prices, there was
little business confidence. Some copper mines closed on Yorke Peninsula with
‘much distress’ reported throughout the mining community. From the beginning of
1885, the colony experienced a population outflow to neighbouring colonies
exacerbated by low wool, wheat, and copper prices – three key products of the South
Australian economy. Financial uncertainty and insolvencies continued with the
liquidation of a local bank, the Commercial Bank of South Australia, at the
beginning of 1886, which proved disastrous to many ordinary citizens. The Town
and Country Bank went into liquidation a year later, as rumours and suspicion
assailed the banking sector. Emigration from the colony increased in the first few
months of 1886 which, combined with difficult financial conditions, resulted in a 25
per cent drop in Adelaide rents as ‘rows of houses stood empty’. Overall, the three
years from 1884 to 1886 resulted in financial depression and hardship for many of
the colony’s inhabitants.
After 1886, there were signs of recovery. The population exodus halted in 1887
as economic conditions improved with the discovery of gold at Teetulpa in October
1886, which attracted two thousand men within a month, an above average summer
wheat harvest, a rise in the copper price, and the ‘brilliant prospects’ of the Broken
Hill silver mines. Increased economic and financial activity boosted commercial
20
Meinig, On the Margins of the Good Earth, 78-92. ‘Goyder’s line’ is named after G. M. Goyder,
who, in 1865 as Surveyor General in South Australia, inspected northern pastoral lands affected by a
severe drought in 1864-1865, and established a line of demarcation, based on a 12 inch (30
centimetre) annual rainfall line that separated ‘lands suitable for agriculture from those fit only for
pastoral use’. See Meinig, On the Margins of the Good Earth, 45; Prest, The Wakefield Companion to
South Australian History, 232.
21
Coghlan, Labour and Industry in Australia, 1796-1799.
113
confidence and there was a ‘great revival’ in trade throughout the colony.22
From 1884 to 1886, revivalism also suffered. All three Methodist denominations
experienced few revivals during this time. The Primitive Methodists did not report
any revivals. The Bible Christians reported four, of which one event was part of the
Houston and Fry mission, while the Wesleyans reported thirteen events, of which
Houston and Fry led four and David O’Donnell led one. Conversions recorded were
Bible Christians (103), and Wesleyans (859) – a total of 962, of which Houston and
Fry accounted for 383 of the total number of Wesleyan conversions.23 T. Houston,
known as the ‘blind singing evangelist’, accompanied by H. T. Fry led evangelistic
services throughout the colony from July 1885 to May 1886.24 Conversion outcomes
contrast with the previous three year period of 1880 to 1882, also one of depressed
economic circumstances, but with buoyant revivalist activity dominated by the work
of Matthew Burnett.
From 1880 to 1886 Wesleyan church membership figures rose then plateaued in
the following manner: 1880 (4,938), 1881 (5,231), 1882 (6,205), 1883 (7,236), 1884
(7,829), 1885 (7,848), 1886 (7,741). Each year thereafter, membership declined to
7,151 in 1890. The first half of the period is therefore characterised by depressed
economic activity, considerable revivalist activity, and substantial increases in
membership. The second half of the period is characterised by similar depressed
economic circumstances, subdued revivalist activity, and steady membership.
The general conclusion is that economic prosperity does not correlate necessarily
with revivalist activity, measured by either conversions or membership growth. In
one three-year period, revivalist activity did increase conversions and membership
figures during ‘active’ revivalist times, despite poor economic conditions. In
contrast, lessened revivalist activity during a second three-year period produced
fewer conversions and halted membership growth during similar economic
conditions. Therefore, as David Bebbington and ‘many recent commentators have
concluded, there is no discernible relationship between the degree of prosperity and
22
Coghlan, Labour and Industry in Australia, 1806.
Calculations based on Appendices 2 and 3 for the respective years.
24
See Appendix 1 for the details of the Houston and Fry missions.
23
114
the incidence of revival’.25 There was at least one significant variable at work in the
period under review. The Wesleyan gospel-temperance evangelist Matthew Burnett
dominated the revivalist circuit from 1880 to the end of 1882 and, despite a lack of
support from some quarters due to his methods, he nonetheless obtained
conversions.26 For three years, Burnett travelled extensively throughout South
Australia, and often returned to the same locations in order to consolidate and extend
his work. His gospel preaching and temperance advocacy meant that he appealed to a
wider constituency. He was the first international evangelist to preach a gospelteetotal message among the colony’s Methodists, particularly Wesleyans.
David O’Donnell – 1887
The third significant revivalist event took place in 1887, during which numerous
conversions occurred, with the appointment of the Rev. D. O’Donnell as the first
Wesleyan Conference evangelist, and the Rev C. Tresise as the Bible Christian
equivalent. A decline in membership of 107 in 1886 came amidst the euphoric
celebrations of the fiftieth anniversary of Wesleyan Methodism in South Australia.
At the beginning of this jubilee year, the call to double the membership and
strengthen ‘attachment to the Methodist Church, its agencies, discipline, and
doctrines’ was made.27 The Wesleyan Conference of 1887 was alarmed that a decline
should have occurred under such circumstances, and was receptive to the
appointment of an evangelist. O’Donnell extravagated through twenty-five localities
north of Adelaide as far as Broken Hill, preached on 270 occasions, delivered fifty
addresses, conducted seventy-eight Bible readings, and dealt personally with 1,235
penitents. However, there was little appreciable change in the annual membership
figures for the next two years, which, instead of increasing, suffered a slight decline
despite there being 816 members on trial.28 The Bible Christians reported 250
conversions because of Tresise’s work, but no appreciable change in membership.29
Bebbington, Victorian Religious Revivals, 31-32, 263.
Hilliard, Popular Revivalism, 10.
27
Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church, Minutes of South Australia Conference, 1886, annual
address to members, 67.
28
CW&MJ, 13 April 1888, 7. Calculations made from the regular reports of O’Donnell’s work for
1887 which appeared in the CW&MJ show there were 991 conversions obtained. See Appendix 1 for
further details.
29
SABCMag, February 1888, 719-721, 726.
25
26
115
The Wesleyan Methodist Conference in February 1888 did not extend O’Donnell’s
appointment as Conference Evangelist beyond the initial twelve-month period, and
appointed the Rev. G. W. Kendrew as his successor.30 O’Donnell, hoping for a
second term, accepted with grace the decision of Conference, despite claiming the
largest number of conversions (991) in a twelve-month period in the history of the
Wesleyan Methodist Church in South Australia.31
In light of the impressive results, the reason for Conference’s decision to
terminate O’Donnell’s appointment warrants some investigation. The reasons are
difficult to ascertain, but what we do know, is that O’Donnell was highly respected
within the Conference as an evangelist. Appointed to South Australia by the
Wesleyan General Conference of 1875, O’Donnell took up his first term in the Clare
Circuit in April 1876.32 As a result of leading a two-week evangelistic mission at
Pirie Street Wesleyan Church, Adelaide, in June-July 1877, the decision to invite
O’Donnell’s as missioner was deemed ‘judicious’. According to the same report, the
mission was ‘remarkably successful’, given that ‘a fortnight is scarcely long enough
to warm through such a mass of partially-chilled material as the city church
represents’.33 Further appointments included the prestigious Kent Town and
Norwood circuit (1878-1881), Pirie Street (1881-1884), and Glenelg (1884-1887).34
Wherever O’Donnell went, local revivals occurred, conversions took place, and
membership figures increased. On one occasion, when appointed to the Pirie Street
Circuit, O’Donnell reported to the congregation at Draper Memorial Church how the
church’s membership had increased ‘as a result of a gracious revival’, and that
‘twenty-two sittings had been applied for during the past fortnight’. One hundred and
twenty people were attending the mid-week service, a class of thirty young ladies
began, and a young men’s theological class was started.35 By the late 1880s, many
Methodist ministers understood the value of revivalist preaching to secure
30
CW&MJ, 3 February 1888, 6.
Annual conversion figures are shown at Appendix 3. The 991 conversions attributed to O’Donnell
were all the more remarkable given that they were the only reported Wesleyan conversions in 1887. In
his valedictory letter to the Methodist Journal, O’Donnell expressed some pain and regret at having to
vacate the office, speaks of Divine providence at work, and invokes ‘grace to serve with equal zeal
and joy, in every station to which His spirit may appoint us’. See MJ, 13 April 1888, 7.
32
MJ, 14 April 1876, 2.
33
MJ, 13 July 1877, 3.
34
Circuit appointments commenced in April of the respective year.
35
MJ, 4 November 1881, 12.
31
116
conversions and generate substantial increases in membership. On one occasion, the
editor of the Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal claimed that up to three
quarters of the church’s membership experienced conversion during revivals.36
O’Donnell was a formidable exponent of the Methodist revivalist tradition.
When the 1887 Wesleyan Conference decided to appoint the first connexional
evangelist ‘for the purpose of conducting special revival services’, O’Donnell was
‘the unanimous choice of his brethren’.37 When the President of Conference
announced the appointment of O’Donnell during the annual address to all members
given at the beginning of 1887, he stated somewhat prophetically: ‘Why may we not
this year reap a harvest which shall be for wealth and extent unparalleled in the
records of Methodism in South Australia? Why should there not be a revival in every
circuit and souls saved in every sanctuary?’ Conference appointed O’Donnell, said
the President, to ‘secure such results’.38 The outcome vindicated these hopes, as
Conference acknowledged the number of conversions recorded by O’Donnell (991)
and the large increase in members on trial (816) as the result of O’Donnell’s work.39
However, Conference decided not to appoint O’Donnell for a further term. Four
reasons may be suggested.
First, there were concerns with finance. O’Donnell received no income for his
last quarter of work because of a financial shortfall incurred by the Conference
Evangelist Fund.40 This was supported by contributions and donations, and despite
the deficit, the Conference Evangelist Committee was ‘deeply impressed’ with
O’Donnell’s work and recommended continuation of the office.41
Second, during the Conference discussions on the evangelist’s work, a motion
that called for ‘more soul-stirring revival meetings’ received almost unanimous
approbation.42 This kind of motion could have passed at just about any Methodist
36
CW&MJ, 3 May 1889, 6. Five years earlier, the editor claimed that ‘a large percentage of members’
had entered the Church through revivals. See CW&MJ, 4 May 1883, 4.
37
CW&MJ, 11 February 1887, 6.
38
CW&MJ, 11 February 1887, 6.
39
Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church, Minutes of South Australia Conference, 1888, vol. 1,
SLSA SRG 4/1/1.
40
CW&MJ, 27 January 1888, 5.
41
CW&MJ, 27 January 1888, 5.
42
CW&MJ, 27 January 1888, 5.
117
Conference in the nineteenth-century as applicable to all ministers and circuits in
general, and to none in particular. However, in the context of the debate, it is likely
the motion referred to O’Donnell, given that no other revivals occurred in 1887 apart
from his work. Conference affirmed the importance of revivals, but questioned the
work of a ‘professional’ evangelist to deliver conversions and increases in
membership.
Third, the fact that there was a decrease in membership from 7,953 in 1886 to
7,662 in 1887, was of particular concern to Conference and to the President, who
sought to explain the fall in the annual pastoral address for 1888. He referred to the
‘failure of the wheat harvest’, ‘widespread commercial depression’, ‘collapse in town
and country’, and an ‘exodus of population to other colonies’. Despite an increase in
the numbers on trial (226 to 820), the situation, ‘when every valid extenuation has
been conceded, it is still a matter for regret, still a matter for profound humiliation
and heart searching before God, not merely that there is a decrease, but that there is
not a substantial increase’.43 The President’s economic assessment was more
perception than fact. The 1887 wheat harvest was a record nineteen million bushels,
and all rural industries, including the pastoral benefitted from favourable seasonal
conditions. Furthermore, there was a ‘great revival in trade’, a halt in the outflow of
population, and speculative investment, although widespread, was ‘less serious in
Adelaide, than in Melbourne, Sydney, or Brisbane’.44 The reasons outlined by the
President had occurred at one time or other between 1880 and 1886, but were less
relevant economic factors in 1887. To attribute them collectively as responsible for a
membership decrease, and lack of a substantial increase for 1887, was both
unwarranted and unjustified. Given that O’Donnell as Conference Evangelist had
recorded 991 conversions, the issue was the overall follow-up rate of members on
trial proceeding to full membership. Why had this not occurred in large measure?
There were circuits where membership increased. For example, the Port
Wakefield circuit recorded 99 conversions both during and after O’Donnell’s five43
CW&MJ, 3 February 1888, 6, These figures are inclusive of those for Western Australia, as the two
colonies formed a single Conference. The South Australian figures were 7,741 (1886), 7445, (1887),
and 816 on trial for 1887. Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church, Minutes of the South Australia
Conference, 1888, 15, 66.
44
Coghlan, Labour and Industry in Australia, 1806.
118
day visit in August 1887, which accounted for a membership increase of 69 reported
in December.45 As most of O’Donnell’s evangelistic visits occurred prior to the
September 1887 Quarterly Meetings, and therefore any membership increases would
have been reported in the 1887 figures, an overall decline is difficult to explain, and
clearly was for the President. There were only twenty-eight deaths recorded for 1887,
hardly a statistically significant overall number. There remain at least two other
possibilities by way of explanation. Was there sufficient movement in the general
population, and hence Methodists within, that resulted in membership wastage as
members failed to seek out a Methodist cause in their new location? Alternatively,
was there an element of professional jealousy amongst some Methodist ministers
who were less than enthusiastic in processing converts to membership because they
questioned the genuineness of O’Donnell’s conversions? The former reason was a
perennial problem for Methodism, given its geographical and rural reach throughout
the colony, aided by an expanding population and new areas of settlement, but there
was little to suggest that 1887 was a year during which more Methodists moved
residences than in any other, and did not enact appropriate membership transfer.
Perhaps the discord among Wesleyan ministerial ranks over the efficacy and practice
of revivalism shows that something important was at stake because sensibilities were
offended.
A fourth area of concern was the relationship of the evangelist as special agency
to the working of the normal agencies in the circuit. A few weeks after the
Conference of 1888, the editor of the Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal was
cautious in his assessment of the benefits of the relationship. Circuits could become
‘less evangelistic’ as increased reliance was placed on the evangelist as the primary
soul-saving agency. Such emphasis on special efforts could ‘injure our regular work’
by ‘borrowing energy’ from the normal operations of the circuit and focussing it on
the evangelistic mission. 46 Three months later, similar concerns appeared in an
editorial entitled, ‘Periodic Revivalism’, which affirmed the ‘legitimacy and also the
potency of revivalist work when properly conducted’. After all, ‘Methodism is the
child, the legitimate offspring, of revivalism’, declared the editor. However,
45
46
CW&MJ, 20 January 1888, 6.
CW&MJ, 24 February 1888, 4.
119
concluded the editorial:
But at the same time we unhesitatingly say that the most effectual way of
making revivalism unpopular, the surest way of alienating the sympathies of
those whose countenance and co-operation are most worth having, is to
exaggerate its efficacy and constitute it the unfriendly competitor and rival
of the regular, ordinary, week-by-week, month-by-month, all-the-year-round
work of the ministry.47
Had revivalism become unpopular and was its efficacy exaggerated?
O’Donnell sensed that the debate was about more than a detached assessment of
revivalism, and responded with a measured statement on the merits of the office of
evangelist.48 One of the functions of the annual Conference was to review the work
of various agencies within Methodism, and whether, in light of the statistical returns,
the ‘spiritual results’ were ‘proportionate to the numerous agencies employed’.49
How best to employ such agencies in the quest for ‘vital religion’ was never far from
the mind of Conference, nor was the pursuit of revival as a fix-all panacea to its work
of social and moral reform. The vision was as enticing as it ever was, despite
perplexity over its attainment; a vision with its attendant exigencies articulated at the
first Conference of South Australian Wesleyanism in 1874:
If united action could be taken by us as a people, many of the questions of
social and moral regeneration were of easy solution. If we could sink our
divisions of opinion and unite in some agreed method of evangelistic work,
revivals might once more refresh and multiply our churches; intemperance
might be diminished in the land; and Christian education might be secured
as a general boon to the rising population of the colony. Resources for all
our work of extension and consolidation are at our command on the one
condition of agreement.50
A vision with an explicit understanding of the importance of conversion invoked
Conference to declare that the church should ‘aim more directly than ever at the
declaration of souls in all our ministrations’.51 Revivalism did not suddenly become
CW&MJ, 11 May 1888, 7.
CW&MJ, 1 June 1888, 7.
49
Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church, Minutes of South Australia Conference, 1877, annual
address to members, 30.
50
Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church, Minutes of South Australia Conference, 1874, annual
address to members, 22.
51
Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church, Minutes of South Australia Conference, 1874, annual
address to members, 18.
47
48
120
unpopular in the mid 1880s, nor was there a general disquiet or popular unbelief in
its efficacy to deliver conversions; after all, Methodism was the ‘child, the legitimate
offspring of revivalism’, but seeds of doubt once planted, would bear their own fruit
in the aftermath of the tumultuous years of the First World War.52
When it became obvious to O’Donnell that he was not going to continue as
Conference Evangelist, he made application to the Conference for a transfer to the
Victoria and Tasmania Conference, as he was entitled to do.53 Later in the year, the
General Conference, unable to uphold the recommendation of the South Australia
Conference, appointed O’Donnell to New Zealand. He did not accept the call due to
personal and family reasons, and resigned from the Methodist Church at the end of
1888.54 He accepted a call to the pastorate of the Malvern Congregational Church,
Melbourne, from February 1889.55
The Wesleyan Methodists appointed the Rev. G. W. Kendrew as Conference
Evangelist in January 1888 as O’Donnell’s successor and extended his appointment
for a second year in January 1889.56 Kendrew secured a reported 96 conversions in
1888, and 110 in 1889, although his written reports to the Christian Weekly and
Methodist Journal were less regular and detailed than O’Donnell’s, and often
included language such as ‘several gave themselves to Christ’, ‘many sinners have
been saved’, ‘some conversions’, and ‘members revived’.57 Typical of such reports
was the account of the second week of the two-week mission conducted at Aldinga
and McLaren Vale, 7-20 April, 1888:
The second week of services conducted at Aldinga by the evangelist was
crowned with rich blessing. The whole district was moved, and the people
came in crowds from far and near. Members and adherents of all the
surrounding Churches attended the meetings, and will share the joy of
harvest. The concluding services on Thursday and Friday were times of
great power, and “the slain of the Lord were many”. The front forms were
crowded with penitents seeking salvation, and the old members testified,
saying, “We never saw it on this fashion”. McLaren Vale was next visited
52
CW&MJ, 11 May 1888, editorial, ‘Periodic Revivalism’, 6.
CW&MJ, 3 February 1888, 6; 21 December 1888, 7; 28 December 1888, 8.
54
CW&MJ, 21 December 1888, 7; 28 December 1888, 8.
55
CW&MJ, 25 January 1889, 7.
56
CW&MJ, 3 February 1888, 6; 1 March 1889, 8.
57
See Appendix 1 for years 1888 and 1889. Numbers of conversions calculated from numerical
reports.
53
121
by the evangelist. Three services were conducted on Sunday, April 12.
Sanctification was presented as the duty and privilege of the believer, and a
present salvation was offered to the sinner on Monday night. Bro. Kendrew
spoke on purity of heart, and many believers were constrained to seek the
blessing. Large numbers of people attended the services, until at last the
communion rail was invaded, and people sat in the pulpit. Several who had
been smitten at Aldinga came to the Vale, and then yielded themselves to
Jesus. And night by night there were added to the Lord such as were being
saved.58
The Aldinga and McLaren Vale revival, despite a lack of detail concerning
reported conversions, evoked a fruitfulness that delineated the core of Methodist
revivalist activity: conversion, sanctification, and a warmed-up piety, manifested
through the power of preaching that attempted to target the heart.59 Both O’Donnell
and Kendrew preached for conversion as well as entire sanctification; conversion
initiated the Methodist spiritual journey, and sanctification provided its momentum,
while death was its consummation. Methodists were urged ‘to die well’ as they
displayed a ‘quiet fortitude, a patient resignation, a triumphant and sometimes
rapturous anticipation’ of heaven. 60 O’Donnell’s preaching was of a ‘plain, practical
and forcible style’, the content of which was centred on the ‘old, old story’, simply
told.61 The theme of O’Donnell’s first mission as Conference Evangelist, held at
Gawler in April 1887, was publicised as ‘Holiness for the believer and salvation for
the sinner’; it represented the Methodist conversion-holiness nexus.62 Occasions of
revivalist activity, in this case, a two-week series of meetings, often became
community events, as well as paradigms of an evangelical sub-culture in which likeminded co-religionists expressed their identity, and defined their distinctiveness
within the wider religious divide.63
However, the appointment of a ‘successful’ Conference evangelist was not
without its problems. Circuit ministers, also working to obtain conversions, did not
58
CW&MJ, 4 May 1888, 8.
Hempton, Methodism: Empire of the Spirit, 74.
60
See also CW&MJ, 18 May 1888, 9; 23 September 1887, 6; 30 September 1887, 3; Australasian
Wesleyan Methodist Church, Minutes of South Australia Conference, 1888, annual address to
members, 67.
61
CW&MJ, 6 May 1887, 3.
62
CW&MJ, 15 April 1887, 6.
63
Sam Reimer, Evangelicals and the Continental Divide: The Conservative Protestant Subculture in
Canada and the United States (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2003), 54.
Other evangelistic events in which other churches are cited include: CW&MJ, 19 August 1887, 6; 26
August 1887, 3; 30 September 1887, 3.
59
122
always welcome revivalism, particularly by one of their own who obtained results.
Wesleyan Methodist membership continued to fall in the late 1880s, from 7,662
(1887), to 7,382 (1888), 7,229 (1889), and 7,151 (1890), before it increased each
year for the next five years, from 7,445 (1891) to 9,075 (1895), and stabilised around
8,500 until Methodist Union in 1900.64
‘Lady Evangelists’ – 1890s
In 1891, the Bible Christians utilised what they termed ‘Lady Evangelists’ to
conduct short-term revival-type missions.65 Women often worked in pairs, moved
from circuit to circuit at the invitation of the circuit minister, and quickly established
their worth in securing conversions. How did this come about?
Background
The Bible Christians in South Australia, along with the Wesleyans and Primitive
Methodists, never had female ministers in their connexions. The Bible Christians
were the only branch of Methodism to use female evangelists, and then only
sparingly, although the Wesleyans utilised the services of Misses Nesbit and Green
in 1894-1895, as well as Misses A. and H. McLennan, in 1894. Prior to the 1890s,
Serena Thorne, who had arrived in the colony as an evangelist in 1870, was the only
female evangelist.66
Within British Methodism, the Primitive Methodists and Bible Christians had
women preachers since their foundation (1812 and 1815 respectively). Their ability
to attract listeners, particularly other women, and thereby multiply the scope for
conversions, influenced their use.67 The first Bible Christian Conference in 1819
64
Membership figures from Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church, Minutes of South Australia
Conference, for the respective years.
65
On the employment and history of women preachers in the English Bible Christian Connexion, see
Jennifer M. Lloyd, ‘Women Preachers in the Bible Christian Connexion’, Albion: A Quarterly
Journal Concerned with British Studies, 36, no. 3 (Autumn 2004): 451-481. On the Bible Christian
women preachers in South Australia, see Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 129-130; The Bible Christians in
South Australia (Uniting Church Historical Society, 2005), 17-18.
66
Among the Bible Christians, a few women preached, but were not deemed ‘evangelists’. For Mrs.
James Way, see SABCMag, August 1876, 277; for Mrs James Roberts, see CW&MJ, 14 August 1885,
4. Noted earlier in the chapter was the work of the lady evangelists Emilia Baeyertz and Margaret
Hampson. Neither were ‘appointed’ by any denomination, as they were ‘invited’ to conduct missions.
67
Lloyd, Women Preachers in the Bible Christian Connexion, 455-456. Hugh Bourne, founder of the
123
unanimously approved the use of women preachers, but despite being acceptable in
the pulpit their exclusion from governance was formalised in the Connexion’s Rules
and Regulations of 1838:
We believe that God, in certain instances, calls women, as well as men, to
publish salvation to their fellow-sinners…They do not, however, take part in
Church government: they are entitled to attend meetings for business, but
not to vote.68
Fifty-one years later, these exact words, which indicated lesser responsibility, were
included in the Laws, Regulations, and Usages of the South Australian Bible
Christian Connexion.69
South Australian Wesleyans, who were somewhat more conservative toward
female preaching, likewise followed their English precedent. The Laws and
Regulations of the Australasian Wesleyan Church 1877 were modelled on the 1803
English Conference, which allowed a woman who had an ‘extraordinary call’ to
preach, but only to other women in her own circuit after approval from the
superintendent and quarterly meeting. Before she preached in another circuit, she
needed the written approval of the superintendent of that circuit, and the
recommendation of her own superintendent. Such laws hindered the emergence of
Wesleyan female itinerancy as Conference declared that, ‘in general, women ought
not to be permitted to preach amongst us’, because a ‘vast majority of our people are
opposed to the practice’, and ‘their preaching does not at all seem necessary’.70 Bible
Christian women could attract a congregation but they could not govern them.
Wesleyan women could do neither.
Beginning of Bible Christian Female Evangelists - 1890
The Bible Christian use of female agency in revivalist preaching was about more
than attracting hearers. The South Australian Bible Christian Conference of 1890,
Primitive Methodists defended women preachers in a pamphlet of 1808. See Bebbington, Protestant
Nonconformist Texts Volume 3, 247.
68
Jennifer M. Lloyd, Women Preachers in the Bible Christian Connexion, 463.
69
Bible Christian Handbook: A Manual of the Laws, Regulations, and Usages of the Bible Christian
Church in South Australia (Adelaide: Bible Christian Conference, 1889), 6-7.
70
Wesleyan Methodist Church, Minutes of Conference, England, 1803, vol. II, 187; Handbook of the
Laws and Regulations of the Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church (Melbourne: Wesleyan Book
Depot, 1877), 135.
124
following three years of virtual membership stagnation, and hopeful that the worst of
the economic woes of the 1880s had passed, responded to the call of one of its most
revered clergyman, W. F. James, in the annual sermon to Conference. James declared
that the task of ‘Christianising Australia’ was far from over and that they were to
‘possess the land’ both spiritually and geographically as they ‘preached Christ and
Him crucified’. The task, James concluded, could only be achieved ‘through human
agency, and the more suitable that is the more effectively He [God] works’.71 Six
months elapsed before the solution presented itself. To make ‘rapid headway’ and
advance forward to ‘occupy much ground’, declared the editor of the South
Australian Bible Christian Magazine in February 1891, ‘above most things it is
imperative that we should see a revival of women’s share in the work of the
gospel’.72 However, the ‘ground’ now included a countering of the unwelcome
invasive spread of the Salvation Army into the ranks of Bible Christian circuits:
We are learning also the appropriateness of the name Mr.Booth selected for
his sect. In several places their guns have been turned upon us; their War
Cry records the mischief they have done several of our circuits. The bulk of
their converts in the country districts are renegades from other
denominations. For liberality in working at other peoples’ expense, for
effrontery in forcing themselves where they can only succeed at the injury of
struggling Protestant churches, for brag and mendicancy and cheek and
proselytism, the Boothites take the cake. One of our pastors who has been
much enamoured of them, and who has freely helped them, has received a
disenchantment in an invasion by the Salvationists that at one time
threatened the very existence of his circuit.73
Since its early days in Britain, the Army’s confrontational style was well known in
71
SABCMag, W. F. James, sermon to the Conference of 1890, August 1890, 227-236.
SABCMag, An elder (unidentified country resident), leading article, February 1891, 275-281.
73
SABCMag, February 1891, 277-278. For a more positive assessment of the work of the Salvation
Army by a Wesleyan minister, (J. Nicholson) see ‘The Salvation Army: Its Place and Power’, Bunyip,
3 August 1883, 2. Nicholson acknowledges the importance of the Salvation Army in attracting the
‘lapsed masses’, and that the response of the established churches toward them should be one of
cooperation and emulation where appropriate. He also noted that some in the Army had been guilty of
‘censorious criticism’ toward other churches, and claimed they were ‘too respectable to save the
drunkards’. No doubt there was some justification to this criticism as Oswald Pryor intimated that the
Methodist churches in Moonta by the mid-1880s had lost contact with the outsider, and that the
Salvation Army were able to appeal to ‘the swearers, blasphemers and drunkards, and from Captain
Piper’s new chums and others for whom the church had no attraction’. Cited in Payton, Making
Moonta: The Invention of Australia’s Little Cornwall, 2007, 199. Nicholson was appointed to the
Gawler circuit at the time he wrote the article in 1883, which appeared just three years after the
Salvation Army commenced in South Australia. Jennifer Hein emphasises the cooperative work of the
Salvation Army in the 1890s. See Jennifer Hein, “‘Abominable Yahoos’: Exploring the Historical
Memory of the Beginning of the Salvation Army in South Australia’” (PhD thesis, Flinders
University, 2014).
72
125
Australia, ensuring newspaper coverage.74 Bible Christian ministers in South
Australia expressed similar concerns with the Army’s confrontational style.75 This, it
was believed, disrupted the ‘essential unity’ within Protestantism, at least at the local
level. 76 Moreover, they lamented the lack of women preachers in their own churches
and looked on with approval at the Army’s use of them.77 Nevertheless, in the midst
of such censorious criticism of the Army’s work, was a return to female preaching a
suitable human agency to mount a forward movement? Within months, Misses Ruth
Nesbit and Annie Green commenced work as ‘Lady Evangelists’; the Bible Christian
Conference of 1891 had thought so. In Britain and America, the use of female
agency in revivalism had found greater acceptance in the realm of women’s moral
influence. Alan Hunt has acknowledged that:
The revivalism of the early Victorian period in Britain, but more intensively
in America with the Second Great Awakening, placed special emphasis on
women as moral agents. It was a small step within an intermingled religious
and feminist discourse that women’s moral energy be directed against
irreligious and sinful men.78
In the latter part of nineteenth-century colonial South Australia, it was another step
of whatever size, to embrace women’s moral energy directed from the pulpit to
convert ‘irreligious and sinful men’.
Revivalist Missions – 1891-1897
Appointed by the Missionary Board, of which Serena Thorne Lake was
President, Nesbit and Green in the latter part of 1891 conducted revival services at
Bowden, Mount Lofty and the Snowtown area, and secured 213 conversions. The
following year Misses McLennan, Angell and Catchlove preached in various circuits,
and between them secured 243 conversions. Bible Christian membership increased
74
South Australian Advertiser, 29 October 1879, 1. The correspondent includes news from South
Wales where twenty thousand people welcomed the release of Salvation Army leaders who refused to
pay fines and obstructed public thoroughfares. The atmosphere was one of ‘unwonted excitement’.
75
SABCMag, February 1891, 275-281.
76
Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church, Minutes of South Australia Conference, 1875, vol. 1,
SLSA SRG 4/1/1, 46. The Wesleyan Methodists in 1875 formalised this ‘essential unity’ in a motion
that identified the Presbyterian, Congregational, Baptist, and all branches of Methodism. The motion
was repeated annually.
77
SABCMag, February 1891, 275-281.
78
Alan Hunt, Governing Morals: A Social History of Moral Regulation (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1999), 97.
126
by 128 in the following year.79 One correspondent, soon after Miss Catchlove’s visit
to Port Elliot in the third quarter of 1892, declared the use of women evangelists as a
matter of divine accord: ‘We are moving in harmony with God’s will in returning to
a fuller recognition of woman’s work in the Gospel. We ought to have at least two of
these devoted women in each district, if not one in every circuit. The expansion of
our denominational area must come by these means’.80 In 1892, the Bible Christian
Northern District and the annual Conference of February 1893, expressed similar
sentiments regarding the zeal and ‘persuasiveness’ of the ‘evangels of Christ’, who
were credited with much of the 406 member increase for 1892.81
The ‘Lady Evangelists’ led a total of thirty-four revival/evangelistic missions
from 1891-1897, and of these, twenty-eight were conducted in Bible Christian
Circuits over the seven-year period and six in Wesleyan Circuits in the years 1894(5)
and 1895(1). These missions accounted for a total of 786 Bible Christian converts
and 602 Wesleyan converts.82 All of the reported Wesleyan conversions (602)
occurred in the one year, 1894, the year Conference sanctioned the employment of
‘Lady Evangelists’ by the Home Mission Committee on the condition that no
‘liability be incurred by the Committee’.83 There is no evidence to suggest that, apart
from this one year, the practice of female itinerant evangelists occurred within
Wesleyan Methodism in the late nineteenth-century; the self-supporting criterion was
sufficient reason for its limited appeal. Like their sisters in other churches, Wesleyan
women were often valued more for their Connexional fundraising ability, organising
public teas, bazaars, fetes, and collecting contributions.84 Their roles, however,
extended beyond the more traditional bounds of circuit life. Women class leaders
were required to embrace the spiritual and pastoral in their leadership and oversight
responsibilities of their society class meetings. These included ‘watching over souls’,
restoration of backsliders, and encouraging the ‘reluctant to speak in front of
79
Appendices 1, 2, and 3. There were two McLennan’s – A. and H. Initials were not always provided.
SABCMonthly, 1 November 1892, 165.
81
SABCMonthly, April 1893, 247; May 1893, 239, 265. The Bible Christian Conference reported an
increase of 317 for the year. See Appendix 2.
82
See Appendix 1 for years 1891-1897.
83
Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church, Minutes of South Australia Conference, 1894, vol. 1,
SLSA SRG 4/1/1.
84
Linda Wilson, ‘Constrained by Zeal: Women in Mid-Nineteenth Century Nonconformist Churches’,
Journal of Religious History 23, no. 2 (June 1999): 193-196.
80
127
others’.85 The primacy of the spiritual dimension entrusted to women as instruments
of spiritual power among their own, collaborated with the restorative work of the
revivalist. By 1896, the popularity of the ‘Lady Evangelists’ had waned; in that year
only five missions were conducted, yielding 29 conversions. There were two
missions and a further 29 conversions in Bible Christian circuits the following year.
In addition to the five mentioned ‘Lady Evangelists’, an additional two (Misses
Vierk and Harriet Ashenden) undertook evangelistic work. Female evangelistic
agency of this nature concluded in 1897, although there were other women preaching
at the time, and it was not until 1910 that the Methodist Church in South Australia
employed the itinerant English evangelist, Sister Lily (Miss Cowmeadow) for three
years (1910-1912).86 It is clear that the Bible Christian ‘Lady Evangelists’ nurtured
the evangelistic and conversionist ethos of Methodism. What were the reasons for
their limited six-year period of service between 1891 and 1897, and eventual demise?
Reasons for Discontinuance
Strains and Rigours of Travelling
There is some evidence to suggest that the strains and rigours of travelling were
considerable. Invitations were mainly from country churches where Bible Christians
had a significant following. During the six years, over forty country circuits and
churches were visited, some up to 350km north from Adelaide. On the other hand,
there were only three places in Adelaide (Bowden, Port Adelaide and Goodwood)
where revival services took place.
Years earlier, Serena Thorne pioneered women’s preaching under similar
circumstances. In 1870, in a twelve-month itinerant preaching tour during which she
often preached up to eight times each week, a physically exhausted Thorne, after a
week’s preaching at Kapunda, wrote in her diary, ‘Have suffered a good deal in gum
boils with inflammation for a day or two’.87 She often felt alone after meetings as she
85
Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church, Minutes of South Australia Conference, 1874, vol. 1,
SAA, SRG 4/1/1, 18. Conference, in 1892 did advocate the use of ‘female agents’ to help with ‘young
people and outsiders’, but nothing eventuated beyond the proposal. See Australasian Wesleyan
Methodist Church, Minutes of South Australia Conference, 1892, vol.1, SLSA SRG 4/1/1.
86
See Appendix 1 for years 1910-1912. Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 141.
87
Serena Thorne’s Diary, 13 November 1870. Original diary held by Uniting Church in South
128
dealt with issues of despondency and self-deprecation, grateful for the opportunities
of redeeming work, but ever conscious of her own perceived inadequacies,
heightened as they were, at times by few conversions and minimal public response. 88
On one occasion, after preaching to two thousand people in the Adelaide Town Hall,
she wrote in her diary: ‘It makes me tremble to see how high their expectations are,
when I remember what a poor ignorant silly little girl I am and above all when I
recollect what a poor Christian I am’.89 Such inner reflection did not diminish the
validity of her call that her (later) husband, the Rev. Octavius Lake affirmed as
exceptional, for there were occasions when she had to defend her right to speak in
public against ‘bitter tongues’ and newspaper attacks. She considered this defence
necessary against those who sought to quote the injunctions by the Apostle Paul as
precedents to oppose women speaking in public and church forums.90 Opposition to
women preachers must have been widespread, as on one occasion Thorne wrote in
her diary, ‘I am told that scores have lost their prejudice against female ministry by
this visit of mine’.91 Perhaps it was this underlying prejudice that prompted Octavius
Lake to declare in a sermon at Young Street Bible Christian Church in Adelaide on
28 December 1873:
It must be very embarrassing to those expositors who deny the scripturalness
of female preaching, that women so frequently take prominent ground in the
ministry of the gospel…The tacit approval of Christ in the instance before us
[preaching woman of Samaria] is sufficient authority for any woman who
has the call and the ability to speak of Him.92
Thorne was recognised by many as an effective preacher. On one occasion she was
‘spoken of generally in terms of high praise. Her friends may always count on large
audiences for her on any occasion when she may be able to assist them’.93 She
inspired other women to preach and to exercise a pulpit ministry appreciated by
Australia Historical Society.
88
Serena Thorne’s Diary, 3 June, 2 July 1870.
89
Serena Thorne’s Diary, 30 May 1870.
90
Serena Thorne’s Diary, 24 November, 1, 2, 4 December 1870. The diary references for 4 December
1870 refer to unnamed passages in Timothy and Corinthians, which Thorne claims were quoted ‘to
frighten me’. It is likely that these passages are 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, which forbids women
speaking in church, and 1 Timothy 2:8-15, which also forbids women from speaking and also teaching
in church.
91
Serena Thorne Diary’s, 1 December 1870.
92
SABCMag, February 1874, 339-340.
93
Port Adelaide News, 28 September 1878.
129
others. In 1882, a Port Adelaide newspaper reporter furthered the cause of women
preachers when he commented that he had ‘heard some splendid sermons from lady
preachers and many of them are highly talented’.94
Serena Thorne Lake’s ability as an effective preacher went beyond the churches
in which she spoke. Hoteliers noticed her work with prostitutes in Adelaide as her
diary records show: ‘The low publicans are making bitter and violent opposition to
our midnight meetings. Great talk and writings in the papers about this problem. The
social evil in this city, may God teach us Christians how to deal with it’.95
The strain of travelling as an itinerant woman evangelist helps to account for the
relatively short periods of service rendered. Miss Angell, accompanied by Miss
McLennan, undertook one evangelistic mission to a rural wheat farming region some
160 kilometres north of Adelaide, that lasted for five weeks in July and August 1892.
The mission embraced the country towns of Snowtown and Port Broughton, and the
hamlets of Condowie, Saltlake, Wiltunga, Cameron and Wokurna East. Forty-four
conversions occurred during the mission.96 Miss Harriet Ashenden undertook an
evangelistic visit of a few weeks to Clarendon and Willunga (22 reported
conversions) in July and August 1894, three weeks in the Goodwood Circuit (20
conversions) in July 1897, and two weeks in the Snowtown Circuit (nine
conversions) in August 1897.97 Misses A. and H. McLennan were involved in six
evangelistic missions over thirty weeks from July 1892 to June 1894. They mostly
worked as solo evangelists, but on one occasion, from March to June 1894,
collaborated for a thirteen-week mission in the Port Wakefield Circuit, one hundred
kilometres north of Adelaide. They visited seven out of the ten preaching places in
the circuit, resulting in ‘seventy to eighty converts’, and seven Christian Endeavour
Societies were formed.
Ruth Nesbit and Annie Green worked together, for a total of twenty-two weeks,
94
Port Adelaide News, 16 June 1882. The comment was in relation to the Port Adelaide Bible
Christian Church.
95
Serena Thorne’s Diary, 2 July 1870.
96
See Appendix 1 for further details and references cited for this, and the next paragraph.
97
Harriet Ashenden became a Bible Christian local preacher in the Mount Lofty circuit in 1893 at the
age of 18. According to the SAM, 29 October 1954 she was the first woman accepted as a local
preacher.
130
from late 1891 to December 1894, and then for one week at Jamestown in May 1895.
They conducted numerous revival meetings in country townships north of Adelaide
and also visited the nearby Adelaide Hills townships of Mount Lofty, Mount Barker,
and Gumeracha, as well as the adjacent Adelaide industrial suburb of Bowden in the
third quarter of 1891. There were 939 conversions recorded, although a few reports
lacked numbers and preferred terminology such as, ‘many new converts’, or ‘greatly
blessed’. Finally, Miss Catchlove conducted nine missions for 269 converts and
joined with Agnes McLennan for one mission, which yielded forty converts during a
total of forty-seven weeks work from the third quarter 1892 to January 1897. Once
again, imprecise language in documenting the number of conversions meant that
there were probably more conversions than the figures suggest. Again, the emphasis
was working in the northern and southern rural areas, with additional visits to towns
south of Adelaide in Port Elliot, Yankalilla (two visits), and Willunga, Mount Lofty,
and Mount Torrens in the Adelaide Hills, and the Adelaide suburb of Goodwood.
Her most successful revivalist mission was probably her time of seven weeks in the
Wirrabara Circuit, 250 kilometres north of Adelaide, in August and September 1895,
with over 100 conversions recorded and Christian Endeavour Societies commenced
at Wirrabara, Murray Town, and Booleroo Centre. There was little certainty in
revivalist evangelism for women as it was dependent on invitations and short-term
appointments by the Missionary Board.
Gender Expectations
It is likely that different gender expectations affected the relatively short periods
of evangelistic endeavours undertaken. The average length of service was seventeen
weeks per evangelist, and two to three weeks was the average length of stay in any
one location. Short-term evangelistic appointments for young women meant that
potential marriage was later than that generally practised, as most young women
married around eighteen or nineteen, ‘two or three years younger than the English
girl’. Once married, ‘she devotes herself to her household, children, and husband’,
mused the English commentator Richard Twopeny in 1883.98 To work as a
Methodist preacher meant that the young woman departed from a gender ideology
98
R. E. N. Twopeny, Town Life in Australia, reprint of 1883 edn (Gloucester: Dodo Press, n.d.), 68.
131
‘which enjoined upon women piety, purity, submission to male authority, and
motherly domesticity’ in order to delay marriage.99 Serena Thorne left itinerancy
following her marriage at the age of twenty-eight in 1871, but continued to preach
occasionally for the next thirty years and became the most effective female preacher
in the colony, and prominent advocate of temperance.100 The Bible Christian ‘Lady
Evangelists’ saw their itinerancy as a short-term interlude, not a career.
Maintenance Ministry
Women evangelists were only employed in established rural or suburban circuits
and thereby restricted according to the needs of maintaining existing churches.
Surrounded by notions of middle-class respectability, female virtue and domesticity,
they were untested in settings replete with shearing sheds, public houses, factories,
railway yards and workshops. This thereby reduced the opportunities available to
women evangelists who might have preferred a frontier-style evangelism rather than
that of the settled pastorate. To this extent, Jennifer Lloyd’s observation of Bible
Christian women preachers elsewhere, utilised as ‘shock troops’ in pioneering
settings characterised by ‘cottage religion’ and outdoor preaching, does not apply. 101
Other Female Preachers
Despite the limitations experienced by the ‘Lady Evangelists’ of the 1890s, it is
clear that they benefited from the female preachers who pioneered the work before
them. Female evangelists before the ‘Lady Evangelists’ of the 1890s, afforded
evangelicalism with creditable public witness. They conducted revivalist meetings in
public buildings and large halls, attracted crowds and made converts.102 In addition
to the work of Serena Thorne Lake, Mrs Emilia Louise Baeyertz and Mrs Margaret
Hampson advanced the acceptability of female preaching. Baeyertz, a convert from
Judaism, conducted evangelistic meetings in the colony from 1881 to 1884, while
99
Patricia Bizzell, ‘Frances Willard, Phoebe Palmer, and the Ethos of the Methodist Woman
Preacher’, Rhetoric Society Quarterly 36, no. 4 (Fall 2006): 378.
100
Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 129.
101
Lloyd, ‘Women Preachers in the Bible Christian Connexion’, 467.
102
Shurlee Swain, ‘In These Days of Female Evangelists and Hallelujah Lasses: Women Preachers
and the Redefinition of Gender Roles in the Churches in Late Nineteenth-Century Australia’, Journal
of Religious History 26, no. 1 (February 2002), 70. According to Swain, 17 overseas revivalists visited
Australia in the period 1863 to 1912; two were women - Emilia Baeyertz and Margaret Hampson. As
Ada Ward visited Adelaide in 1907, the revised total is three women.
132
Hampson, another ‘lady evangelist’ visited in July 1883, and attracted crowded
audiences to the Adelaide Town Hall, where a reported 600 conversions took place.
She established local Prayer Unions as a result of her ten-day mission.103 Women
evangelists, despite an element of public criticism, had a demonstrated evangelistic
ability which ‘made them impossible to dismiss’.104 At Hampson’s farewell tea held
in the Town Hall, hundreds were turned away from the meeting at which the
presiding minister claimed that her presence in the city had helped parliament to
repeal the Totalizator Act.105 The challenge to the accepted stereotype of female
gender was never far from public debate. In a review of Hampson’s 1883 Adelaide
visit, the South Australian Advertiser claimed that her mission was ‘one of the most
notable events in the history of the city’. Despite the alleviation of a ‘natural
prejudice’ held by many against women teaching, Hampson was deemed an
‘exceptional case, removed from the ordinary rules of procedure’, endowed with an
acceptable ‘earnestness’ and ‘peculiarly gifted’. Consequently, ‘we do not suppose
that her triumphs will have much influence in the way of leading to any infringement
of the generally recognised right of men to the exclusive possession of the pulpit’.106
The attempt to downplay Hampson’s influence was similar to that experienced by
other female preachers. Shurlee Swain contends that contemporary accounts which
downplay the ‘performance’ of the women evangelists as a challenge to the accepted
stereotypes of female gender, had the effect of ‘normalizing’ their ‘presence and their
message’, and thereby ‘rendered them largely invisible’ to twentieth-century debates
on the role of women in the church.107
What was the basis of Hampson’s reported exceptionality? Acknowledged as
having oratorical skills that few possessed, her voice was ‘good to hear’, well
modulated, with tonal variation, and elocutionary merit of a high order. She was not
one to ‘rant’, ‘rave’, ‘scream’, ‘bawl’, or ‘strain’, free of vociferation, but rather
possessed a ‘feminine tenderness’, combined with an ‘air of authority’ that made her
appeals ‘simply irresistible’. Sincere and enthusiastic in delivery, her logic was
103
South Australian Advertiser, 2 August 1883, 4. The number of converts is given as 300 by the
Primitive Methodists and Wesleyans. See PMR, 4 August 1883, 4; CW&MJ, 10 August 1883, 2.
104
Swain, ‘In These Days of Female Evangelists and Hallelujah Lasses’, 71.
105
Register, 2 August 1883, 6.
106
South Australian Advertiser, 2 August 1883, 4.
107
Swain, ‘In These Days of Female Evangelists and Hallelujah Lasses’, 77.
133
‘clear-cut’ in which she appealed to the conscience, addressed the hearer’s doubts,
and challenged the will. When speaking, her words were both ‘choice’ and
‘extensive’; she was able to expound Biblical stories with ‘thrilling interest’, and she
used personal experiences which were ‘vivid’ and ‘graphic’, without being ‘either
ornate or gorgeous’. Her persuasive power, and use of emotion helped to ‘cast a spell
over her hearers’; she appealed as much to men as she did to women.108
Walter Phillips claims that Margaret Hampson’s ‘success lay more in the
similarity of her style to that of other evangelists than in any womanly
differences’.109The externalities of her style were similar to other evangelists: the use
of Sankey’s ‘Sacred Songs’, exposition of common doctrines such as the Fall,
Redemption and Regeneration, the use of nightly public meetings, daily prayer
meetings, and special children’s services.110 However, observers commented on her
womanly differences. Her appearance, considered by some to be, ‘thoroughly kind
and motherly…devoid of affectation’, unlike the ascetic, bereft of cheerfulness and
pleasantness, she smiled naturally and seemed a ‘thoroughly womanly woman in
every respect, and [added the commentator] I am glad of it’.111 Her femininity and
womanly qualities found ready acceptance among the evangelical constituency of
Adelaide, and as Olive Anderson has argued, the way in which women presented
themselves did account in part for the gradual diminution of opposition to female
evangelists as they ‘exploited the sentimentality which was at the centre of
revivalism’.112
Conclusion
The statistical overview of Methodist revivalism in the period 1866 to 1913
demonstrated the priority and prevalence of the local revival as the centrepiece of
‘vital religion’. Appendix 1 surveys the diversity and specific forms of revival
activity, which occurred in line with Conference direction. The quest for revivalist
CW&MJ, 27 July 1883, 4; South Australian Register, 28 July 1883, 6; South Australian Advertiser,
2 August 1883, 4.
109
Phillips, Defending A Christian Country, 64-67.
110
Phillips, Defending a Christian Country, 65; CW&MJ, 27 July 1883, 4; South Australian
Advertiser, 2 August 1883, 4.
111
South Australian Register, 28 July 1883, 6.
112
Olive Anderson, ‘Women Preachers in Mid-Victorian Britain: Some Reflexions on Feminism,
Popular Religion and Social Change’, Historical Journal XII, 3 (1969): 472.
108
134
conversions occurred despite the obvious generational changes that took place during
the period, both in the passing of first generation revivalists, and in the growing up of
younger leaders who had never experienced their work or their social and religious
context. The passing of religious fervour associated with the original settlers did not
refocus Methodist religious practice to mere observance and contented ritualism. As
the colony continued to expand its agricultural and settlement boundaries in the last
three decades of the nineteenth-century, revivalism – in tune with the denomination’s
expansionary ethos – continued to produce the converts necessary for increased
membership and self-described growth within the general population. Many
nineteenth-century South Australian Methodists dared believe that the whole state
could be converted to a ‘religion of the heart’ through revivalist means.
Numerous local revivals occurred across the Methodist spectrum, with the
Wesleyans asserting their overall dominance in extended revivalist activity. The
much anticipated and hoped for general revival of religion failed to coalesce behind a
diversity of localised outpourings of revivalist enthusiasm, many of which were
independent of local revivals elsewhere. Specialist itinerant revivalists such as
Matthew Burnett, David O’Donnell and the ‘Lady Evangelists’ focussed revivalist
activity in numerous country locations during their respective itinerancies and
despite their numerical successes in either converts or pledges recorded, criticisms
indicated that support for revivalism was by no means uniform or unquestioned.
The Arminian theology and revivalistic tradition of Methodism enabled
significant growth to occur among the three branches of South Australian
Methodism. Overall, revivals in this period did not occur in a spiritual vacuum:
everywhere there were preparatory factors at work such as ‘special services’, prayer
meetings, ‘signs of an awakening’, formation of preaching bands, and even deaths in
the community. Advance notice of a meeting or mission by a ‘named’ evangelist or
reformer often raised the level of expectation, particularly among people in country
areas looking for a new speaker or new event to give some variety and excitement to
rural life. Revivals also had an important impact on the role and place of lay
leadership within Methodism. Although Methodism placed great emphasis on the
work of the laity through offices such as class leaders and local preachers, revivalism
135
popularised and democratised lay agency, and raised lay leadership to a new level.
Many of the successful revivalists of this period were not ministers but lay
evangelists, men as well as women. We opened this chapter noting the visit of
William Taylor to Adelaide in 1865. We close it with his assessment of the way in
which Methodism expanded its early work in America:
Most of the pioneer work of Methodism in America has been done on
principle number one, he wrote, by laymen, and women, and local
preachers. In the cities, east and west, and throughout the length and breadth
of the land, the old plan was for a few earnest laymen to enter every open
door, by establishing a weekly prayer-meeting, or a little Sunday-school;
then, after some preparation, to build a small chapel, develop the work, hold
a series of special services, and have a hundred outsiders converted to God;
then build up a strong self-supporting church.113
Such an assessment can be appropriately applied to South Australian Methodism at
the end of the nineteenth-century.
113
William Taylor, Ten Years of Self-Supporting Missions in India, (New York: Phillips and Hunt,
1882), 48-49.
136
CHAPTER 6
CHALLENGES TO REVIVALISM
In 1898, the editor of the Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal asserted that:
A new world has sprung into existence within the last quarter of a century. If
the fathers who passed to their account twenty-five or thirty years ago could
re-visit the earth and mingle in present-day society, in church and out,
nothing would surprise them more than the new spirit and new ideas now in
vogue.1
Headed, ‘The New Age-Spirit and the Modern Pulpit’, the editorial went on to
outline some of the ‘new spirit and new ideas’:
The swift and remarkable developments of science, the new criticism as
applied to the Bible, the universal and unquestioning acceptance of doctrines
which, until recently, were regarded as fundamentally alien to the orthodox
faith, the spurious liberalism and quasi-infidelity permeating all classes, the
new social ideals, the repudiation of ancient scruples and restraints, the
substitution of independent inquiry for authority and dogma – all these are
features of the new order under which the nineteenth-century draws to its
close.2
Furthermore, the editor claimed that the changes have not ‘been without practical
results. Our Church work has been vitally and far-reachingly affected’.3 Statements
such as these and others enabled one later historian to claim, rightly:
The late nineteenth century appears above all as a time of intellectual
experiment in Australia. The late 1890s in particular were marked by an
extravagant rush of new ideas, religious no less than social and political.4
This chapter examines the revival work of Methodism in the light of some of the
external intellectual challenges current in the latter part of the nineteenth-century. In
addition, it considers the internal challenge to revivalism posed by the Methodist
Church’s own moral reform and social agenda.
1
CW&MJ, 18 February 1898, 6.
CW&MJ, 18 February 1898, 6.
3
CW&MJ, 18 February 1898, 6.
4
Hilary M. Carey, Believing in Australia (St. Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 1996), 106-107.
2
137
Intellectual Challenges
One only has to scan the Methodist periodicals in the last quarter of the
nineteenth-century to identify the concerns of readers. In the main, these included
rationalism, the historicity of Genesis, dogmatism in theology and science, evolution,
‘new theology’, ‘higher criticism’, secularism, and socialism.5 From about 1874, the
task of responding to the intellectual challenges, in what has been termed ‘The
Victorian Crisis of Faith’, 6 developed a sense of urgency within South Australian
Methodism, which continued well into the twentieth-century. In January 1874, the
South Australian Primitive Methodist Record opened its lead article ‘The Bible and
Rationalism’ with the statement: ‘The battle about The Book [Bible] has not yet
ceased’.7 The article’s basic premise was that the Bible was under attack because
there was difficulty in reconciling science with theology, reason with revelation.
Methodists and other believers worried over the place of Christian belief in
Australian society.
Darwinian Evolutionary Theory
Anxiety among Methodists increased throughout the last quarter of the
nineteenth-century, as various apologists, mainly clergy, argued in defence of
traditional Christianity. Perhaps the topic most discussed was Darwinian
evolutionary theory – Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species (1859) and The
Descent of Man (1871) – versus the Biblical account as expounded in the seven days
of creation. Darwin’s theory of natural selection provided a non-supernatural way of
viewing the natural order and seemed to make increasingly untenable the Biblical
account of the seven days of creation.8 In Europe, from the mid-nineteenth-century,
liberalism was a response to the growing realisation that in order to accommodate the
intellectual demands of modern knowledge, a reconstruction of Christian belief was
5
See for example, SAPMR, January 1874, 65-71; SABCMag, February 1878, 374-376, MJ, 15 March
1878, 4; CW&MJ, 9 May 1884, 6; 21 November 1884, 3; 27 November 1885, 2-3; 4 December 1885,
2-3; 11 December 1885, 2, 4; 3 June 1892, 2; 10 June 1892, 2; 17 June 1892, 2; 15 July 1892, 4; 29
July 1892, 6-7; 17 February 1893, 4; 24 February 1893, 7; 3 March 1893, 5; 25 August 1893, 6; 29
September 1893, 6; 5 April 1895, 6; SAPMM, April 1886, 242-247; SAPM, January 1897, 109-113.
See also, Walter Phillips, ‘The Defence of Christian Belief in Australia 1875-1914: The Responses to
Evolution and Higher Criticism’, Journal of Religious History 9, no. 4, (1977): 402-423.
6
Anthony Symondson, ed., The Victorian Crisis of Faith (London: SPCK, 1970).
7
SAPMR, January 1874, 65-71.
8
See for example, SABCMag, February 1878, 374-376; CW&MJ, 9 May 1884, 6.
138
needed. Classical liberal Protestantism grounded its presuppositions on a vision of
humanity, which ascended and evolved upwards into states of increased progress and
improvement.9
‘New Theology’ and ‘Higher Criticism’
Not only was the Bible itself under attack as an infallible authority, but some of
its teachings, such as the doctrine of the atonement, and the Fall of Man, once
considered unassailable by evangelical Methodists, were subject to increased
scrutiny and criticism.10 However, even from the mid-1870s, some within
Methodism attempted to ameliorate understandings between the historic evangelical
doctrines and the claims of ‘new theology’ and ‘higher criticism’. 11 For instance, in
1874, the South Australian Primitive Methodist Record re-produced an article, ‘The
Bible and Rationalism’, which asserted:
There is no reason to believe that God intended through the Bible to give to
man a theory of the universe; they mistake, therefore, who look upon the
Bible as a scientific text book. Man cries to heaven for a revelation. Heaven
responds. God utters His will. He gives his word as an infallible guide and
authority. The Bible is not a system of Natural Philosophy. The Scriptures
are not intended to teach astronomy, botany, physiology, nor geology, but
religion. Where scientific truth is conveyed, it is incidentally – indirectly not
directly.12
Furthermore, the article contended: ‘The supernatural will therefore necessarily
accompany the Bible, and demand our faith. But though it demands our faith it does
not forbid investigation, but encourages and demands it’. The article was typical of
some which appeared in Methodist periodicals in the latter part of the nineteenthcentury – attempts to accommodate and interpret, where possible, scientific
9
On Darwin and liberalism from Alister E. McGrath, Christian Theology, 101-104; 304-305.
See for example the article by the Primitive Methodist minister, R. J. Daddow, ‘The New
Theology’, SAPMMag , April 1886, in which he outlines some of the effects of the New Theology on
the doctrines of Inspiration, The Fatherhood of God, Fall of Man, the Atonement, and Eternal
Punishment.
11
Two forms of critical study of the Bible in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which
concerned Christians, were ‘higher criticism’ and ‘lower criticism’. Higher criticism was the
application of modern literary and historical critical methods to the study of the Bible. Lower criticism
or ‘textual criticism’ examines the details of the text. It includes study of manuscripts to determine, as
close as possible, the original reading of text. See Alan Richardson, ed., A Dictionary of Christian
Theology (London: SCM Press, 1969), 81. On ‘Biblical Criticism’ see also Bebbington,
Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, 184-191.
12
‘The Bible and Rationalism’, SAPMR, January 1874, 65-71.
10
139
naturalism and higher criticism with traditional theology and enquiry.
Wesleyans, in particular, took counsel from the English-born, Sydney resident,
Wesleyan minister, William B. Boyce (1804-1889), and his major work, Higher
Criticism and the Bible (1881).13 Boyce challenged the anti-supernaturalistic
elements within higher criticism and argued that the rise of sceptical criticism in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries fostered anti-supernaturalism. The
compensating emphasis on rationalism diminished the authority of Biblical evidence
and of the Bible itself.14 Nevertheless, Boyce acknowledged the positive contribution
of higher criticism to Old Testament scholarship in the light of advances made in
academic disciplines such as history, science, philosophy, and literary criticism. He,
therefore, had no place for the ‘cultivation of doubt as an intellectual tradition’, but
rather an ‘honest doubt’ pursued with academic rigour and purpose.15 Overall,
Boyce’s book, a nuanced, theological, and historical apologia, defended the basic
tenet of evangelical Protestantism as a historic, revealed religion based on the long
accepted testimony and authority of the Biblical evidence. He helped Wesleyan
Methodism to accept, gradually, that higher criticism was not a master to be feared
but a servant to be employed. At the Wesleyan Conference held in Adelaide in 1881,
Boyce presented a copy of his book to each minister present.16 How many ministers
and lay people were thereafter affected directly by Boyce’s work is hard to say.
Considered by some as ‘the most outstanding figure in nineteenth-century Australian
Methodism’, Boyce’s mediating scholarship must have influenced those in search of
a via media between higher criticism, rationalism, Darwinian evolutionary theory,
and historic Evangelicalism.17
Sin Re-defined
Of particular concern to Methodists was the manner in which ‘sin’ was
understood in the light of Darwinian evolutionary theory. The theory implied an
ascent from a lower to a higher state, in contradiction to the Christian understanding
13
W. B Boyce, The Higher Criticism and the Bible (London: Wesleyan Conference Office, 1881).
Boyce, Higher Criticism, 74.
15
Boyce, Higher Criticism, 34-35.
16
CW&MJ, 21 January 1881, 8.
17
William W. Emilsen, ‘ Boyce, William Binnington (1804-1889), ADEB, 47-48.
14
140
of the descent of man following the Fall as recorded in the Genesis narrative.18 The
theory, according to the American physician and poet Oliver Wendell Holmes (18091894), a proponent of Darwinism, and reported widely in Adelaide newspapers,
‘removes the traditional curse from the helpless infant lying in its mother’s arms’.
The word ‘sin’ is obsolescent, Holmes declared:
The scientific study of man is the most difficult of all branches of
knowledge. It requires, in the first place, an entire new terminology to get
rid of that enormous load of prejudices with which every term applied to the
malformations, and functional disturbances, and the organic diseases of the
moral nature, is at present burdened. Take that one word “sin”, for instance;
all those who have studied the subject from nature and not from books know
perfectly well that a certain fraction of what is so called is nothing more or
less than a symptom of hysteria; that another fraction is the index of limited
degrees of insanity; that still another is the result of a congenital tendency
which removes the act if we sit in judgment, if not entirely, at least to such
an extent that the subject of the tendency cannot be judged by any normal
standard.19
For many Methodists, to remove or redefine the word ‘sin’ separate from its Biblical
connotations challenged such doctrines as the depravity of man, the conversion of the
sinner, and the need of atonement for sin acknowledged.20 Take away the atonement,
and ‘salvation is impossible’ declared the South Australian Primitive Methodist
Record in 1868.21 Although so called ‘modern theories of the Atonement’ required
examination, aspects of such theories, while helpful according to the Rev. John
Blacket (1856-1935), Wesleyan Christian apologist and circuit minister, do not
necessarily add to the understanding that based on ‘the ground of His death [Jesus
Christ] the sins of men are forgiven’. Blacket argued that Christ’s death did not
merely reveal something of interest to the sinner; He achieved something for the
sinner, as a substitute for that which people could not do for themselves. In this way,
salvation is possible.22 Hence, Blacket maintained the primacy of the orthodox view
of the atonement with its redemptive, propitiatory, and substitutionary elements.
18
South Australian Advertiser, 21 March 1873, 3; CW&MJ, 9 May 1884, 6.
The South Australian Advertiser, 21 March 1873, 3 contained a report on a ‘striking defence on
Darwinism’, by Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Poet at the Breakfast Table (London: George Routledge
& Sons, 1872).
20
These three doctrines, stated or implied are found in a sermon, ‘Coming to Jesus’ preached by the
Rev. James Read, Primitive Methodist, in the Open Air at North Adelaide, 9th November 1862. See
SAPMR, January 1863, 1-5.
21
A statement made in a sermon on the Atonement published in the SAPMR, October 1868, 109.
22
On theories of the Atonement, see for example, SAPMMag, January 1886, 207-213. Blacket
reviews Dale’s work at CW&MJ, 5 February 1892, 3.
19
141
Overall, Blacket was ‘cautious’ in his acceptance of aspects of the ‘new theology’,
but open to the ideas of evolution.23
Conditional Immortality of the Soul
Allied to the doctrine of the atonement was the topic of the immortality of the
soul and the eternal punishment of the wicked. In the late 1870s, Methodist preachers
in the main still taught the traditional doctrines of ‘heaven’ and ‘hell’ with little
variation from the central themes.24 Viewpoints which contradicted these doctrines,
particularly if they involved the banishment of hell, were strenuously opposed. They
were thought of as incompatible with accepted doctrine.25 However, by the mid1880s, as the result of openness to contemporary thought, the doctrine of the
‘conditional immortality of the soul’ occupied the minds of a number of vigorous
correspondents.26 In summary, conditional immortality was the view that only those
who accepted Christ as Saviour had immortality (the power to live forever). Those
who do not express faith in Christ for salvation do not have the gift and at the point
of death or at the final judgment they simply cease to exist. As a form of
annihilationism, it appealed to those who found difficulty reconciling God’s
judgment with God’s love. It reflected the ‘mood of the times’ and owed much to
‘the warm humanitarianism associated with Romantic thought [which] often recoiled
from the stark contours of traditional belief’. 27 It was a significant departure from
Wesley’s original condition for membership into a Society as ‘a desire to flee from
the wrath to come, to be saved from their sins’.28 Less confronting ideas about the
reality of hell were openly proposed. What effects did these intellectual challenges
have on the practice of revivalism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries?
Arnold D. Hunt, ‘Blacket, John (1856-1935), ADEB, 42; Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 262-263.
See for example, ‘The Eternal Punishment of the Wicked’, in SAPMR, January 1877, 39-43.
25
See for example, ‘The Doctrine of Eternal Punishment’, SAPMR, January 1879, 301.
26
The CW&MJ published at least 19 letters and included three editorial comments between November
1884 and February 1885 on the topic of ‘conditional immortality’.
27
Bebbington, The Dominance of Evangelicalism, 161.
28
Handbook of the Laws and Regulations of the Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church
(Melbourne: Wesleyan Book Depot, 1877), 2.
23
24
142
Effects of the Intellectual Challenges on Revivalism
‘Plain Speaking’
By the early 1890s, disquiet and dissatisfaction with ‘plain speaking from the
pulpit’ on matters of ‘sin’ delivered as ‘plain, earnest, practical expositions of oldfashioned truth’ occasionally found expression in Methodist public discourse. On one
such occasion in 1892, the Rev. W. A. Langsford was criticised for using ‘plain
speaking’ during revival meetings at Petersburg. He responded by affirming the need
to be ‘bold’ in preaching and not to compromise the ‘whole counsel of God’.29 Later,
the editor of the Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal reported that the work in
Petersburg had entered its sixth week with ‘unabated blessing and power’. Forty
conversions took place ‘in the home and by the roadside, as well as in the sanctuary’.
The editor noted that following Langsford’s ‘plain speaking’, a revival broke out and
‘God had put His seal on the pastor’s honesty. Would that everywhere we had some
faithful dealing with men, with the same gracious results’.30 Plain preaching with a
‘burning passion for the salvation of souls’ had long been an important consideration
within Methodist revivalism.31
By the mid-1890s, however, not all were convinced of the need to return to the
‘plain preaching’ and ‘burning passions’ of earlier years. A report by the satirical
Quiz and Lantern of a service at Archer Street Wesleyan Church in 1895, told of a
preacher who longed for the old days of revival fire and how some in the
congregation laughed at his story:
He [preacher] longs for the days of 25 years ago, when the wailings of the
congregation over their sin were heard, and when they burst forth into
pleadings with the Almighty for forgiveness. Men on Yorke Peninsula, he
remarks, used to go sleepless and foodless for days because the burden of
sin was so strong upon them. That is what he would like to see now. Then he
narrates how a young miner from one of the Yorke Peninsula copper towns
‘lay on his bed and roared like a bull for two days and two nights’ because
the Lord would not free him from his sin. At this the congregation laugh.
How could they help themselves? If one had shut his eyes he might have
imagined himself at one of the Methodist revival meetings of a quarter
29
CW&MJ, 27 May 1892, 1.
CW&MJ, 27 May 1892, 1.
31
The claim was made by W. R. Stephenson, Primitive Methodist minister. See SAPMMag, April
1887, 371-374.
30
143
century ago. But this congregation did not groan. The men tried to look
serious and the women smiled.32
Attitudes to revivalism were changing.
Authority of the Preacher
One of the most significant aspects upon which revivalism depended was the
authority of the preacher. By the 1890s, the nature of the preacher’s authority was
changing. In 1898, the editor of the Wesleyan Christian Weekly and Methodist
Journal had no doubts as to the changed nature of ministerial authority, particularly
as it related to preaching. In the context of his editorial on ‘The New Age-Spirit and
the Modern Pulpit’, the editor claimed that:
The conditions under which the teaching and preaching functions are being
exercised are almost wholly unlike those that used to obtain. Formerly, the
deliverance of the pulpit – given that the preacher was a person of
respectable intelligence and education – were received as hardly admitting
of question. A Christian minister was understood to speak “as one having
authority”. At all events, there was no disposition on the part of his hearers
to show the slightest doubt or hesitancy in regard to what may be spoken of
as the great cardinal and strategic tenets of Christian doctrine. The
infallibility of the Bible, and its unique place among the literatures of the
world; the supreme and eternal Divinity of the Lord Jesus; the death of
Christ as a satisfaction offered to God for man’s wickedness and rebellion,
and as constituting a genuine objective atonement. The need and the
possibility of spiritual regeneration for all men; the doctrine of a future life,
with its measureless recompenses of honour and shame, and of pleasure and
of pain. All these were axiomatic truths, accepted alike by both pulpit and
pew, and about which there was no more serious doubt than there was of the
indubitable accuracy of Newton’s law of universal gravitation. But speaking
generally, and allowing for exceptional instances, the case does not stand
like that today.
Furthermore, according to the editor, congregations were affected:
There is a perceptible weakening in the grip of the average hearer upon
fundamental truth. The foundations are being undermined. The belief
leverage upon which our pulpits formerly reckoned, and which was often
turned to such effective account, is undergoing a process of enfeeblement.
The old responses to the preacher’s appeals are not so readily forthcoming.
Not that there is anything of the nature of a general and formal revolt against
the authority and teaching of the Bible. That stage, thank God! Has not been
reached yet, and we have no serious fears that it ever will. That there is,
32
Quiz and the Lantern, 31 January 1895, 8. Sermon by the Rev. J. Young Simpson, at Archer Street
Wesleyan Church, North Adelaide.
144
however, a temporary obscuration – that a haze of uncertainty, of vague
doubt and misgiving – is today brooding over the average sermon-hearing
mind, will hardly be gainsaid.
The editor went on to claim that the availability of an abundance of newspapers,
magazines, and novels, much of it ‘cynical, shallow, irreverent, materialistic,
agnostic, and sceptical’, provided competing messages for sermon-hearers, which
unsettled and clouded congregations. The editor concluded by calling for more
effective preaching, relevant ‘to meet the altered requirements of the age’, delivered
by preachers who have ‘a vital experience of the things whereof they speak’, and
‘dominated by an intense and overmastering love for the souls of men, and a deep,
strong passionate desire to save them’.33 The editor’s comments indicate Methodists
were making adjustments to their religious beliefs in the late nineteenth-century.
According to the editor, ‘fundamental truths’ were being ‘undermined’. In the minds
of sermon listeners, the ‘teaching and preaching functions’ of the ministerial office
were under review. If the authority of the preacher involved in the regular
ministrations of the church was changing, then this also had implications for the
revivalist preacher – with one significant difference, however.
Religious Certainties Re-examined
In his study of religious practices in the Yorkshire fishing village of Staithes, in
the period after the Second World War, Steve Bruce concluded that whereas
churches are subject to the eroding forces of secularisation, folk or popular religions
are ‘doubly vulnerable’ as they are sustained by the healthy viability of chapel
culture.34 Likewise, it is contended that revivalism (as a sort of folk religion)
flourished in a climate of institutional sustainment linked to the community through
avenues of notional affiliation such as Sunday schools, guilds and mutual
improvement societies. Together, they provided the revivalist with the raw materials
to work with – the regular and nominal chapelgoer, both possessed with a semblance
of a common stock of religious knowledge. David Hempton maintains that
revivalism is sustained by the presence of such knowledge when he concludes:
33
Editorial, ‘The New Age-Spirit and the Pulpit’, CW&MJ, 18 February 1898, 6-7.
Steve Bruce, ‘Secularisation, Church and Popular Religion’, Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 62,
no. 3, (July 2011): 543-561.
34
145
‘Eighteenth-century revival movements in all parts of Britain relied on the
Christianising functions of inclusive established churches to lay the foundations of
basic religious knowledge upon which they could make their emotive appeals’.35
Likewise, any ‘undermining of the foundations of fundamental truth’, which
unsettled institutional religion affected the practice of revivalism as well.36 This is
likely for the nominal churchgoer, whose doubts on Biblical and ministerial authority
and awareness of the revivalist’s tendency to ‘stir up any audience to the verge of
hysteria’ probably made them ‘doubly vulnerable’ in deciding whether to attend
revival meetings.37 Religious conviction was fundamental to the work of the
revivalist intent on promoting the crisis of the dramatic conversion experience in
meetings designed to elicit ‘decisions for Christ’.38
However, Darwinian evolutionary theory weakened the certainty of the dramatic
conversion experience. Hugh Gilmore (1842-1891), the influential minister of
Wellington Square Primitive Church from 1889 to 1891, demonstrated how the
influence of evolutionary theory modified the understanding of conversion. He spoke
of conversion as ‘a continual process going on and on’ rather than ‘one definite
spiritual condition to which we attain by one great exercise of faith in one supreme
moment’.39 The application of the principle of gradual change over time was
becoming a significant concept in religious thinking. Evolutionary processes and
elongated theology were not conducive to making ‘decisions for Christ’ in revivalist
settings.
35
David Hempton, ‘Established Churches and the Growth of Religious Pluralism: A Case Study of
Christianisation and Secularisation in England since 1700’, in Hugh McLeod and Werner Ustorf, eds.,
The Decline of Christendom in Western Europe 1750-2000 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2003), 86.
36
Quote only, CW&MJ, 18 February 1898, 7.
37
Quiz and the Lantern, 27 September 1894, 8. In 1894 and 1895, the weekly satirical paper
published reports of visits to leading churches in the city and suburbs. On a visit to Pirie Street in
1894, the reporter estimated 1,500 persons present (the largest in Adelaide at the time), of whom 400
were men and youths.
38
‘Decisions for Christ’ was in widespread usage in the late nineteenth-century. See for example,
CW&MJ, 24 October 1884, 6. Term used by the Rev. J. B. Stephenson at the church anniversary at
Pirie Street Wesleyan Methodist.
39
Hugh Gilmore, Sermons by the late Hugh Gilmore: Being full reports of occasional Sermons
preached at the Primitive Methodist Church, Wellington Square, North Adelaide, S.A., 1889-1891
(Adelaide: n.p., 1892).
146
‘Paralysis’ of Methodism
The late 1890s, as South Australian Methodism edged closer to a union of
Methodist Churches, was a time of deepened introspection on the nature and purpose
of the church.40 In the Methodist paper, one correspondent (W. Long), concerned
about attracting more men to churches, claimed that many stayed away because of
the perennial generational indifference to organised religion, and ‘social distinctions
so manifest in all the churches’. Accordingly, poorer people tended to stay away
from the church, while others were ‘drive[n] away who would otherwise attend’.
Long’s solution to the dilemma was ‘a baptism of fire’ as the ‘first condition of
success’.41 What is unique about Long’s comments is that they originated from a city
businessman who located himself as socially mid-way between the working and
‘well-to-do’ classes. Consequently, over a period of twenty years, based on personal
observation and interaction, he believed his comments to be considered and well
placed. The perception of diminished ministerial authority, indifference to religion,
and social distinctions undoubtedly dissuaded many from attending church, let alone
the meetings of a distinctly revivalist nature.
Perhaps it was the correspondent ‘Jno. B’ who provided Methodists with the
most penetrating analysis of the state of Methodism and revivalism at the end of the
nineteenth-century.42 Jno. B’s introspective assessment, entitled ‘The Paralysis of
South Australian Methodism’, compared the contemporary condition of the
denomination with that of thirty years earlier. According to the author, Methodism
was in a state of paralysis:
Apparently, it has discovered its centre of gravity, and is in a state of
equipoise.
We may cease to remember the days of old – the mighty men of Methodism,
the great spiritual awakenings, the thousands who were saved from sin.
Our prayer meetings are poorly attended. The class meeting is dying out.
Where are the great spiritual awakenings, the red-hot enthusiasm of former
40
For a description of religious life in Adelaide at the end of the nineteenth-century, see David L.
Hilliard, ‘The City of Churches: Some Aspects of Religion in Adelaide about 1900’, Journal of
Historical Society of South Australia, no. 8 (1980).
41
W. Long, ‘Why Men Stay Away From Church’, CW&MJ 26 August 1898, 8.
42
Jno. B., ‘The Paralysis of South Australian Methodism’, CW&MJ, 19 May 1899, 7. The author is
most likely the Rev. John Blacket, a regular and ‘esteemed contributor’ to the Wesleyan serial and
noted for his historical writings. The editor remarked that the author would be ‘easily recognised’
from his initials. Clearly, the comments are from a well-known and highly respected senior minister.
147
times? Where is the intense love, not only for the souls of men, but for the
spiritual system called “Methodism”?
Our fathers believed in their Church. It is this spirit that we seem to lack
today.
With the ultra-liberalism of the day, in a spiritual as well as in a political
sense, the writer is not in sympathy. It lacks virility, it is flabby and
invertebrate. Liberality is often a cant expression for pusillanimity.
Methodism in this colony is losing its individuality.
There is a want of spiritual verve in our Church.
Let the class meeting, the lovefeast, the cottage prayer meeting die out, then,
so far as the writer is concerned, one church would serve his purpose as well
as another.
If Methodism in this colony is to answer the purpose of its institution, more
enthusiasm must be thrown into it – it must be worked. The inspiring motive
must be love. When men and women are really attached to the system called
Methodism, they will try not only to secure the conversion of souls, but also
gather them into the Methodist fold.
We are in danger of losing our denominational love. 43
The editor responded to the fervour and claims of Jno. B’s rhetorical exuberance by
declaring: ‘Of one thing we are certain, that the revival we need is a revival of the
church’.44 The two Wesleyans had cause for concern. Colony-wide, the last
significant outpouring of ‘spiritual verve’ occurred in 1894 when Rodney ‘Gipsy’
Smith led an evangelistic mission in Adelaide, which netted the Wesleyans 409
conversions, with a consequent 464 increase to membership in the following year. In
the next five years, the Wesleyans, whose membership decreased from 9,075 in 1895
to 8,474 in 1899, undertook little revivalist work. The Bible Christians utilised their
‘Lady Evangelists’ to sustain spiritual fervour and initiated around 200 conversions,
whereas the Primitive Methodists did not record any outpourings of religious
enthusiasm and fewer than five conversions.45 By the time of Methodist Union in
South Australia in 1900, and the prospect of a united Methodism commanding the
religious census affiliation of one-quarter of the colony’s population, the practice of
revivalism was at risk of increased marginalisation and alignment to the periphery of
church life. Perhaps Jno. B’s greatest concern, as a church historian, was the threat to
the Methodist revivalist heritage, which extended back to the Evangelical Revival of
the eighteenth-century. The role and place of revivalism to generate conversions and
spread scriptural holiness throughout the colony were at risk because of a spiritually
43
Jno. B., ‘The Paralysis’, CW&MJ, 19 May 1899, 7.
CW&MJ, 19 May 1899, 7.
45
See Appendices 2 and 3 for the respective statistics.
44
148
neutralised ‘equipoise’. Dean Drayton makes a similar observation, suggesting that
by the late 1880s, Methodism reached a spiritual equilibrium as it had become ‘an
established church without a renewal component’.46 It is clear that Jno. B understood
that the narrative of revival and decline in which the provision of converts fell short
of the anticipated need, although a regular feature of revivalism, was itself under
threat from the intellectual challenges within society. Colonial Methodist revivalism
as a third-generation movement wavered as it struggled to maintain the passions of
the founding colonists.
Intellectual Challenges Accommodated
Not all Methodist leaders were wary of the new intellectual challenges. Two
Primitive Methodists, though perhaps not typical, who demonstrated a unique ability
to move beyond the bounds of traditional religious thinking to incorporate aspects of
new intellectual knowledge and religious liberalism, were Hugh Gilmore (18431891) and John Day Thompson (1849-1919). Both were concerned with a liberalised
evangelicalism and the social implications of Christianity, which sought to make the
gospel relevant to social as well as individual needs. In many respects, both were
practitioners in the 1890s of ‘intellectual experiment’ in Australia.47 The Bible
Christian minister Enoch Gratton (1838-1931) attempted to accommodate Christian
Socialism with traditional theological thinking.
Hugh Gilmore
Gilmore and Thompson utilised Christian social thinking current in Britain in the
1880s and 1890s to attract full congregations to the Primitive Methodist Church,
Wellington Square, North Adelaide, between 1889 and 1898.48 Known as the
46
Drayton utilised falling attendances within the class meeting, and fewer lay people involved in
‘spiritual leadership’ as the main reasons for the lack of spiritual renewal. See Dean Drayton, Five
Generations: Evangelism in South Australia (Adelaide: Evangelism Committee, South Australian
Synod, Uniting Church in Australia, 1980), 13-14.
47
According to Hilary Carey, the late nineteenth-century was a time of ‘intellectual experiment’ in
Australia. Referenced at note 2 of this chapter.
48
On Gilmore, see Walker, R.B., ‘Gilmore, Hugh 1842-1891’, ADB, National Centre of Biography,
Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/gilmore-hugh-3618/text5621 (14
February 2015). See also Kevin Secomb, The Excitable Little Pastor: The Ministry of Rev. J. Day
Thompson in the North Adelaide Primitive Methodist Church 1892-1898 (Adelaide: Historical Society
of the Uniting Church in South Australia, 2002), 6-7. The Wellington Square Primitive Methodist
Church was opened in 1882 and seated 350. A further 150 sittings were added in 1892 during
149
‘Radical Parson’ for his strong political and social convictions, Gilmore emphasised
‘The Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man’ as the fundamental premise of
his ‘Christian Sociology’.49 As such, he laboured in his lectures and sermons to apply
theological principles to industrial matters, particularly the interests of the working
class, and in the process, his public speeches often possessed an educative and
exhortative value, stronger on generalities than on specifics.50 Gilmore was no
stranger to the concerns and difficulties of workers on low wages and living in poor
housing; it was part of the pastoral vocation. His public denunciations of working
class injustices and support for the remedial and social application of the gospel were
criticised by some, but found favour with others, particularly Wesleyan Methodists
who missioned among the city’s poor.51
Confronted with the demands of the poor and socially deprived, Christian
Socialism, often allied with postmillennialism, appealed to Pirie Street Wesleyans in
their push to establish Adelaide’s version of a Central Methodist Mission.52 The
English Wesleyan minister and Christian Socialist, Samuel Keeble was influential in
the establishment of central missions in England in the late nineteenth-century:
Against Christian Individualism, which demands ‘the simple gospel’,
Christian Socialism maintains that the Christian Gospel is two-fold –
individual and social…The social Gospel is as sacred and as indispensable
as the individual Gospel – the two are complementary, and the neglect of
either always brings its penalties…That Gospel contends Christian
Socialism is far from being ‘simple’ – it is profound and manifold – and is
bent upon saving not only the individual, but also society; upon setting up in
the earth the Kingdom of Heaven. 53
The pastoral demands of social pragmatism merged with the gospel dualism of
Christian Socialism. The postmillennial hope of a world steadily advancing in social
improvement and Christian progress appealed to Christian Socialists and to those
prepared to combine institutional social reform with evangelistic conversionism. 54
Gilmore’s appointment. On Thompson see Secomb, The Excitable Little Pastor.
49
Secomb, The Excitable Little Pastor, 7.
50
Secomb, The Excitable Little Pastor, 6; South Australian Register, 7 April 1890, 6; Adelaide
Observer, 17 May 1890, 33.
51
See for example, South Australian Register, 18 October 1890, 6.
52
On the establishment of the Central Methodist Mission in Adelaide, see Brian J. Chalmers, ‘Need,
Not Creed’ 10-67.
53
S.E. Keeble, Industrial Day-Dreams, London, 1896, 62-63.
54
On ‘postmillennialism’ see Bebbington, The Dominance of Evangelicalism, 130-132.
150
The revivalist understood that the gospel was primarily a matter of personal
conversion as a spiritual transaction. The institutional evangelistic-social reformers,
such as the Wesleyan Joseph Berry of the Pirie Street Church in the late nineteenthcentury, and W. A. Potts, as the first missioner of the Adelaide Central Methodist
Mission (1900-1908), accepted that, in the light of changes in social reform theory, it
was opportune to combine social involvement with conversionism. For others,
however, aspects of evangelicalism were more a matter of emphasis. Conversionism,
which emphasised the love of God, and minimised the reality of hell and everlasting
punishment in line with humanitarianism, did not negate one’s evangelical
credentials. This is evidenced in Gilmore’s ‘spiritual revelations’, in which he
documents and dwells on his own spiritual journey.55
Gilmore’s conversion was ‘sudden and dramatic’, in which he ‘awakened to a
sense of the enormity of sin and a fear of the sinner’s hell’ and awareness of the
atoning nature of Christ’s death.56 Later, Gilmore’s vital Christianity embraced an
‘indissoluble association’ between ‘love and service’ in which the latter ‘consisted in
helping them [people] in any way that we can to a higher level of life, to increase
intelligence, comfort, social well-being, morality, and purity’.57 It was arguably
Gilmore’s mature reflection on what he understood as the nature of Christian
socialism. Gilmore’s acquiescence to emphasise the love of God overshadowed his
prior conception of the ‘sinner’s hell’. His time at Wellington Square was one in
which the love of God constrained his theological and philosophical musings.
Gilmore’s social gospel was for the Christianisation of the colony, but without the
offence of an exclusivist gospel of revivalism with its clear and often vivid
distinctions of heaven and hell.
John Day Thompson
Gilmore ‘attracted those who admired his socio-political’ stance,58 for some a
55
Hugh Gilmore, My Spiritual Revealings, published after his death in the South Australian Primitive
Methodist, April 1892, 148-151; July 1892, 199-202; October 1892, 246-250; January 1893, 299-304;
April 1893, 345-347. See also Gilmore, Sermons by the late Hugh Gilmore,1892),
56
SAPM, July 1892, 202.
57
SAPM, April 1893, 348-349. The report refers to a sermon delivered by Gilmore at Port Adelaide in
October 1890, and some resultant criticism, which included the use of ‘outspoken language’.
58
Secomb, The Excitable Little Pastor, 17.
151
welcome interlude from the predictable rhythm of Methodist revivalism, and who
were intent on exploring the frontiers of theological liberalism. For others, however,
such benefits weakened the doctrines of the atonement and the nature of sin, wary
that ‘liberalism was increasingly horizontal in orientation, speaking much of
brotherhood with both God and mankind’, and convinced that the ‘vertical relation
had to come first. Sever the cords of supernatural rescue, and all was lost’.59 For
Gilmore’s successor, John Day Thompson, there was no doubt about the primacy of
the God-man vertical relationship. Christian socialism, he contended, over-valued
human goodness and under-valued human sin. ‘No scheme of social regeneration can
hope to have any permanent success which begins with the community and not with
the unit, the individual man’.60 Perhaps the combination of a liberal and conservative
social welfare evangelicalism, as espoused by Gilmore and Thompson, attracted
capacity congregations to Wellington Square, once described as ‘the mecca of the
casual churchgoer’.61 It is also likely that the two exponents of religious liberalism
also attracted the seeker of new religious truth. However, Thompson’s outspoken
espousal of Protestant liberalism appealed to many, but attracted critics as well. The
editors of the Wesleyan paper criticized Thompson for denying the atonement, the
divinity of Jesus, divine inspiration of the Bible, and for supporting the Darwinian
view of human evolution.62 Furthermore, Thompson had to defend himself against a
heresy charge, brought by Primitive Methodists in England who claimed that he had
deviated from Wesley’s doctrines.63 The South Australian District Meeting supported
Thompson, but acknowledged that his language may have caused misunderstanding.
In 1896, the Primitive Methodist Conference, meeting in England, considered the
matter and concurred with the findings of the District Meeting. No action was taken
against Thompson.
59
Dominic Erdozain, ‘The Secularisation of Sin in the Nineteenth Century’, Journal of Ecclesiastical
History 62, no. 1 (January 2011), 61.
60
Quoted in Secomb, The Excitable Little Pastor, 16.
61
Quiz and the Lantern, 1 November 1894, 8, quoted in Secomb, The Excitable Little Pastor, 17.
62
CW&MJ, 23 October 1896, 3.
63
SAPM, April 1896, 680. Thompson was acquitted of the charge. ‘The South Australian Conference
reported to the Conference in England, where the charge emanated, that Thompson had not defected
from the standards of Methodist doctrine and that “the old truths of Wesley’s sermons and notes in
new forms and settings are still the subject matter of his teachings”! Acceptance by the Conference in
England of this judgment closed the matter’. See Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 141. See also S. Mews,
‘Against the Simple Gospel: John Day Thompson and the New Evangelism in Primitive Methodism’,
in Modern Religious Rebels: Presented to John Kent, ed. Stuart Mews (London: Epworth Press,
1993), 206-225; Hilliard, ‘Methodism in South Australia’, 72.
152
Bible Christians
To a lesser extent, the Bible Christians, known for their innovative use of women
evangelists in the 1890s, also exhibited a preparedness to engage with their own
constituents, and the wider public, on the topic of Christian Socialism and its
relationship to the church. The best example was affectionately dubbed ‘Enoch
Grattonism’ after a lecture on Christian Socialism delivered at the mining town of
Broken Hill in 1894 by the self-taught and self-styled Enoch Gratton. President of
the Bible Christian Conference, Gratton argued that socialism was Christian
Socialism without the ‘Christian’.64 Both, he taught, attempted to establish a more
just and equitable society. Overall, amid the vagaries of definition and application,
both in the public and church arenas, the Bible Christians, like their colonial
Methodist cousins, were in general agreement on the ordering of ‘regenerating’ as
opposed to ‘reforming’ society. The former precedes the latter, so argued the Rev. T.
McNeil, in a sermon before the Bible Christian Conference in Adelaide in 1894:
‘With this beneficent work of social reform we are in full sympathy…[but]
the expectations of such persons [non-gospel social reformers] can never be
realised because they look for results from outward reform that can only be
the fruit of a renewed heart… The kingdom must be within men…The
gospel is social second and individual first…The renewing of the man is the
supreme work, and all else is secondary to this’.65
Adherence to the primacy of individual regeneration followed by societal reform was
for most Methodists a ‘gospel’ within itself. To suggest otherwise was a denial of
their evangelical heritage, and provided the work of ‘social reform’ met with the
agreement of New Testament Christianity, it warranted endorsement, but if not, an
enemy was at work to ‘shake men’s faith in Christianity’.66 To prejudice the ‘old
gospel’ for a ‘gospel for the times’ failed to diminish the presence and power of
individual sin. It was a non-negotiable premise. 67 In addition to the external
64
The term ‘Enoch Grattonism’ first appeared in the Broken Hill serial, Barrier Miner following
Gratton’s lecture on 21 May 1894. His lecture was the subject of an editorial two days later. See
Barrier Miner, 23 May 1894, 2. For a report of his lecture, see Barrier Miner, 22 May 1894. There
was lively interest in the topic judged by the press coverage. See Barrier Miner, 23 May 1894, 2; 24
May 1894, 2; and six-months later, 23 October 1894, 2. On Enoch Gratton, see Arnold D. Hunt,
‘Gratton, Enoch 1838-1931’, ADEB, 135.
65
SABCMon, April 1894, 493.
66
SABCMon, April 1894, 493.
67
SABCMon, April 1894, 494.
153
intellectual challenges to Methodist revivalism, there were internal challenges as
well.
The Challenge of Moral Reform
We have said that conversion and growth in holiness formed the essential
purpose of Methodism. The practice of revivalism, as the main method of producing
converts, was also affected by the level of priority which Methodists granted to
building up converts in holiness. How holiness worked itself out in the life of
Methodists, and how it affected revivalism is discussed through an examination of
Temperance and Sunday Observance. These were evidences of the vital Christian
life.
The late nineteenth-century witnessed an intensification of the work of moral
reform by the Methodist churches, particularly the Wesleyans, concerned that their
ideal of a Christian Australia was under threat from a growing liberal and secular
ethos. In South Australia, the ending of state aid to religion in 1851, and the
Education Act of 1875, which established the three principles of state education as
free, compulsory and secular, marked the growth of secularisation.68 Methodist
concern was understandable, given a colonial background deeply imbued with the
notion of Christendom derived from Europe and Britain, which generally accepted
that the state was Christian and upheld as such by the cooperative workings of
church and state. This mutuality of relationship promoted the well-being of the
citizens.69
68
State aid to religion in South Australia existed from 1846 to 1851. Instituted during Governor
Robe’s administration, public money advanced to religious denominations was for the building of
churches, schools, ministerial stipends and teachers’ salaries. On the so-called ‘State Aid Controversy’
see Pike, Paradise of Dissent, 353-391. Similar Acts to the South Australian Education Act of 1875
were passed in Victoria, 1872; Queensland, 1875; New South Wales, 1880; Tasmania, 1885; Western
Australia, 1893 and 1895. A.G. Austin categorises these Acts as ‘surprisingly uniform’, and notes that
despite their secularity, the Acts did not ‘drive’ out religion. For example, in the South Australian Act,
allowance for Bible reading without doctrinal teaching outside of teaching hours was allowable. See
A.G. Austin, Australian Education, 1788-1900: Church, State and Public Education in Colonial
Australia (Melbourne: Pitman & Sons, 1961), 166-167.
69
See for example, G. Kitson Clark, Churchmen and the Condition of England 1832-1855 (London:
Methuen, 1973), chapters 2 & 3; Hugh McLeod, Religion and Society in England 1850-1914 (New
York: Saint Martin’s Press, 1996), 71-133; Callum G. Brown, The Death of Christian Britain:
Understanding Secularisation 1800-2000, 2nd edn. (London: Routledge, 2009), 16-34. Brown
contends that the rise of the Protestant dissenting churches and Methodism in Britain in the eighteenth
154
How best to promote the moral reform agenda (generally limited to gambling,
social purity, Sunday observance, temperance, and education) demanded the earnest
ruminations of the annual Methodist conferences. In the annual address of the South
Australian Wesleyan Methodist Conference held in 1874, the president, W. L. Binks,
called for:
Greater degree of spiritual unity…as a condition of power and success...If
we could sink our divisions of opinion, and unite in some agreed method of
evangelistic work, revivals might once more refresh and multiply our
churches; intemperance might be diminished in the land; and Christian
education might be secured as a general boon to the rising population of the
colony.70
The promotion of revivals through evangelistic work, which resulted in
individual spiritual transformation or conversion, was the basis of social reform.
Regarded as complementary activities, personal transformation led to societal
change. Methodists had to save souls; the measure of societal betterment was in
proportion to the numbers saved. There was no place for morality without ‘vital
religion’. The revival was the instrument of choice to effect social change. Whether
greater spiritual unity within Wesleyan Methodism achieved the desired outcome is
not possible to determine. Whether or not Binks was right in that judgment, the issue
here, by way of illustration, is that Methodists were unrelenting in their efforts to
press for moral reform within the colony. Their efforts to effect legislative change
intensified in the last quarter of the nineteenth-century, as they discussed, analysed,
and determined actions, whether internal, such as special measures, or external, such
as identifying parliamentary candidates sympathetic to Methodist causes.71 The high
point of moral reform for Methodists in particular and like-minded evangelicals in
general, was the legislative enactment for six o’clock closing of hotels in South
Australia in 1916. For all Methodists how ‘intemperance might be diminished in the
and early nineteenth centuries helped to weaken the power of the established churches, and along with
religious apathy and secularism, hastened religious decline. See Brown, 17. Australia, with its lack of
established church-state relationship was, according to Frank Engel, suffused with secularism from the
foundation of the nation. See Frank Engel, Australian Christians in Conflict and Unity (Melbourne:
Joint Board of Christian Education of Australia and New Zealand, 1984), 29-41. Whilst Methodists
believed that a causal connection existed between moral decline and secularisation, and that the latter
resisted a reversal of this decline, the quest for moral reform was also part of a process within
Protestant evangelicalism to assert and establish its own power and influence within society.
70
Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church, Minutes of South Australia Conference, 1874, 21-21.
71
Special measures included the declaration by Conference of special Sundays such as ‘Temperance
Sunday’ during which the topic of temperance became the theme for the day in local churches.
155
land’ became one of their major moral reform initiatives prior to the First World
War.
Temperance
Of the three branches of Methodism, the Wesleyans were the first to establish a
temperance society ‘in connection’ with the church. This took place at Kooringa
(Burra) in 1868 following the demise of a branch society of the Temperance
Alliance. 72 Bands of Hope soon followed and became popular attractions with
Sunday schools in particular.73 Recognising the popularity of the Bands, the
Wesleyan Conference in 1878 formally sanctioned the Bands in connection with
local Sunday schools, and by 1889, the first year in which membership figures for
the Bands appeared in the official statistics of Conference, fifty percent of circuits
had Bands totalling 4,290 members (total church membership excluding Bands of
Hope was 7,229).74 The formation of these Bands signalled a shift among some
ministers and laymen toward a closer identification of the temperance cause with
institutional Wesleyanism, aided by the prospect of greater control over the
organisation and direction of the Bands comprised of scholars from local Wesleyan
Sunday schools.
Meanwhile the Primitive Methodists continued their support for temperance by
providing members and speakers for branch societies and Bands of Hope of the
Temperance Alliance, in addition to their own denominational interests. These
included annual District Meeting Temperance gatherings, which were often public
72
Adelaide Observer, 27 June 1868, 15.
On the Band of Hope, see Lilian Lewis Shiman, Crusade Against Drink in Victorian England (New
York: St. Martin’s Press, 1988), 134-155. Non-denominational in nature, the title ‘Band of Hope’ was
a generic term and referred to all juvenile youth groups of both sexes between the ages of six and
twelve involved in temperance work, irrespective of affiliation or church association. Used originally
in South Australia to denote children’s temperance work of the Total Abstinence Society, the term
was later adopted by the Protestant churches in the formation of their own juvenile temperance
groups. The first Total Abstinence Society Band of Hope in South Australia commenced in Adelaide
in 1853. See South Australian Register, 6 January 1854, 3.
74
Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church, Minutes of South Australia Conference, 1879, SLSA
SRG 4/1/1, vol. 1, 124; Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church, Minutes of South Australia
Conference, 1890, 12-14. The Bands grew steadily in membership until 1894, and thereafter declined
as Christian Endeavour societies increased in popularity.
73
156
events that attracted large crowds, ‘vehement’ speakers, and numerous pledges.75
The language used by temperance advocates of all branches of Methodism
reflected the intensity of feeling for the emotive topic of liquor control. As the largest
Methodist body, the Wesleyans were perhaps the most strident and vociferous in
their unabated opposition to liquor interests. Each year Conference declared war on
the ‘trade’; declaring intemperance as ‘evil’ and responsible for the most ‘appalling
ravages’.76 Methodists looked out on a world in need of reform and were drawn to
the ‘wretched victims’ disinherited from the Kingdom of God. Methodist piety
invoked a visionary social ideal, which promoted individual effort and often stirred
its adherents to anger.77
The late 1870s and1880s witnessed a number of temperance initiatives, which
furthered the cause and allied leading Methodists of all persuasions against
intemperance. The formation in 1878 of the Wesleyan Methodist Temperance
Society, which by 1886 promoted total abstinence, 78 and the declaration of the
‘inseparable connection’ between Sabbath observance and temperance,79 prepared
the way for the visits of Matthew Burnett, Joseph Cook, and R. T. Booth in the
1880s. Following these, as Arnold Hunt observed, ‘it was probably safe to assume
that most, if not all, Wesleyan ministers were teetotal by the 1880s’.80
The visits of leading temperance evangelists such as Matthew Burnett from 1880
to 1883, Joseph Cook, 1882, and R. T. Booth in 1886 furthered the cause and
strengthened the Methodist commitment against intemperance.81 The editor of the
SAPMR, April 1865, 3; April 1866, 48; April 1868, 46.
Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church, Minutes of South Australia Conference, 1884, annual
address to members, 51.
77
Such anger occasionally led to exchanges of strong language between temperance and antitemperance advocates. One Wesleyan minister, at a public meeting held at Burra in August 1878 on
the topic of Nock’s Act, claimed that statements by the Adelaide paper, the Advertiser, were made
with ‘unblushing effrontery’ and ‘transparent lying’. The Advertiser replied that the minister’s
comments were an ‘outpouring of malignity, insolence, foul slander, and mendacity’, and that the
minister was an ‘ecclesiastical mudslinger’. See SAPMR, October 1878, 264-265; Advertiser, 4
September 1878, 4.
78
CW&MJ, 29 January 1886, 3.
79
Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church, Minutes of South Australia Conference, 1879, annual
address to members, 36.
80
Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 190.
81
On Matthew Burnett, see thesis chapter 5. The Rev. Joseph Cook visited Adelaide under the
auspices of the YMCA in August 1882. See CW&MJ, 4 August 1882, 2-4. Cook was a known
75
76
157
Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, described Booth as ‘the most eloquent
champion of temperance that has ever visited Australia’, a ‘true evangelist’, with the
aim of ‘making men sober and godly’.82 Booth preached for conversion, conveyed a
total abstinence message, called for the total abolition of alcoholic drinks, and
secured 1,452 pledges during his Adelaide visit in April 1886.83 All three evangelists
preached a gospel-teetotal message and thereby furthered the perception of their
inextricable connection.
Booth’s visit commenced within days of the conclusion of another gospeltemperance mission, that of Mrs Mary Leavitt of the non-denominational Woman’s
Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) in the United States.84 Leavitt’s visit resulted
in the formation of the WCTU in Adelaide, which commenced in 1886, and within
three years, twenty-three unions in country towns and suburban locations began work
promoting temperance (total abstinence) and Sunday closing legislation.85 Many
Methodist women joined local unions, particularly in the country towns and thereby
provided much of the leadership, while two of the early state presidents were
Methodists.86 Aware of the growth and spread of the temperance movement, the
editor of the Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal exuberantly welcomed the
formation of the WCTU, and foreshadowed a promising future.87
Keen to harness women’s support and growing advocacy in the interests of
temperance, and in the election of ‘suitable’ members of parliament, the editor’s
pragmatism only hints at the extent of social change then underway. The solidarity
engendered in the movement allowed women to step outside the traditional home
temperance advocate. See “The Gospel Awakening”, comprising the Sermons and Addresses of the
Great Revival Meetings conducted by Moody and Sankey (Chicago: Fairbanks, Palmer & Co, 1883),
44-48. For an assessment of Burnett’s temperance work in South Australia see Hilliard, Popular
Revivalism in South Australia, 8-13.
82
CW&MJ, 16 April 1886, 4; 23 April 1886, 4.
83
CW&MJ, 23 April 1886, 4-6; 14 May 1886, 5.
84
CW&MJ, 26 March 1886, 4.
85
South Australian Advertiser, 31 August 1886, 6; Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 191.
86
The first President was Elizabeth Nicholls who held the position for 29 years over two terms.
Another early President was Lady Holder, wife of Sir Frederick, one of Methodism’s most prominent
laymen. Mrs. Octavius Lake, whom we first encountered as Serena Thorne, the Bible Christian ‘lady
evangelist’ in Chapter 5 of the thesis, ‘was an indefatigable organiser of new branches, 22 being
established in 1889 and 1890, largely as the result of her efforts’. Hunt also notes that ‘ministers and
laymen from the various Methodist churches often spoke at the annual conventions of the WCTU’.
See Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 191.
87
CW&MJ, 3 September 1886, 4.
158
environment and take up a cause which sought to protect the home, and acted as a
precedent for further ‘social movements’.88 The WCTU provided women with their
first colony-wide non-denominational body, which operated to influence the state
legislature, firstly in temperance reform through the interests of mainly evangelical
women, and secondly, in addition to temperance reform, women’s suffrage by the
late 1880s.89 The Union enabled women to ‘operate across the gender divide, yet
within the bounds of conventional femininity’.90 ‘Vital religion’ encouraged
women’s moral activism, particularly among the conservative middle-class, who
often utilised their oratorical skills to further the temperance cause, as well as a host
of other enlightened social reforms.91 Many of the early leaders such as Lake and
Nicholls were the products of evangelical backgrounds, familiar with Methodist
revivalism and benefited from the ‘conjunction between the female sex and moral
activism traditional in Methodism from its earliest origins’.92
By the end of the 1880s, the Methodist churches often promoted temperance in
conjunction with the gospel, and in many churches, Bands of Hope and the work of
the Sunday schools were inseparable.93 Following the adoption of prohibition at the
International Temperance Convention in Melbourne in November 1888, teetotalism
then united the Methodist churches toward the ultimate goal of total prohibition.94
In the last decade of the nineteenth and first decade of the twentieth centuries,
88
See remarks by D. Nock, chairman of the inaugural meeting of the WCTU held in August 1886,
South Australian Advertiser, 31 August 1886, 6.
89
The WCTU adopted women’s suffrage in August 1889 at its first South Australian Convention. By
then, the membership had risen to 1,112 and 28 departments established. See South Australian
Register, 14 August 1889, 7. The South Australian House of Assembly, through its Constitution
Amendment Bill, enfranchised women in 1894, one of the earliest parliaments to do so. It also gave
women the right to stand for Parliament, which was unique at the time. The WCTU’s support to the
Women’s Suffrage League (formed in 1888 by the Social Purity Society led by the Congregational
minister, Joseph C. Kirby), was important for the Bill’s success. See ‘Votes For Women’ condensed
for the Women and Politics website by Dr. Helen Jones from her book In her own name: a history of
women in South Australia, rev. edn. (Adelaide: Wakefield Press, 1994), at
http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/women_and_politics/votes.pdf (31 March 2015).
90
Lynne Trethewey, ‘Christian Feminism in Action: Kate Cock’s Social Welfare Work in South
Australia, 1900-1950’, History of Education 36, no. 6 (November 2007): 715-734, 715.
91
Mrs. Octavius Lake was a Bible Christian preacher. Elizabeth Nicholls was a Wesleyan Sunday
school teacher. Both were accomplished communicators. Some of the WCTU departments included
social purity, suffrage, school and juvenile work, and prison work. See South Australian Register, 14
August 1889, 7.
92
Patricia Bizzell, ‘Frances Willard, Phoebe Palmer, and the Ethos of the Methodist Woman
Preacher’, 377-398, 379.
93
See for example, SABCMag, February 1886, 522; February 1890, 195.
94
CW&MJ, 27 January 1888, 6; 23 November 1888, 6-7.
159
Methodists continued to work for the regulation of the liquor trade through
legislative means alongside other temperance organisations such as the South
Australian Alliance and the WCTU. This was an attempt to present a united front
against the ‘evil arising from the sale of strong drink’.95 Some successes, often
identified with a notable Methodist politician, occurred at frequent intervals, small
victories toward the goal of complete prohibition.
With the introduction of 6pm closing for hotels in 1916, following a state
referendum in the previous year, the temperance lobby in South Australia achieved
what was arguably its greatest victory. Seen in part by some as a patriotic home-front
concession to the wartime experience of soldier sacrifice, ‘six o’clock closing’ also
resulted from a sustained temperance campaign of moral suasion and legislative
action since the early 1880s.96 The temperance movement, and in particular the
Methodist churches, were unrelenting in their campaign for early closing and hailed
the referendum as a great victory.97 The campaign included many independent
temperance bodies, but the Methodist Church made the largest contribution of all the
churches and provided much of the leadership.98 Important as the achievement might
have been, vital religionists saw early closing as but the final battle on the way to
winning the war for prohibition. The war on drink was their major social concern of
the period and a significant act of social improvement. However, as Walter Phillips
noted: ‘that sanguine hope remained unfulfilled, and six o’clock closing became,
instead of the last staging camp in the war against drink, a position to be defended,
along with the Sunday laws and the Christian status of the country’.99
95
All three Methodist Churches prior to 1900 issued regular annual resolutions condemning
intemperance, whilst promoting the work of all independent temperance agencies in the colony. See
for example, Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church, Minutes of South Australia Conference,
1893, SLSA SRG 4/1/1, vol. 1.
96
See Walter Phillips, Defending “A Christian Country”: Churchmen and Society in New South
Wales in the 1880s and after (St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1981), 270 and his ‘“Six
O’Clock Swill”: The Introduction of Early Closing of Hotel Bars in Australia’, Historical Studies 19
(October 1980): 76-92. See also J.D. Bollen, Protestantism and Social Reform in New South Wales
1890-1910 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1972), chapters 8-10; Methodist Church of
Australasia, Minutes of South Australia Conference, 1914, annual address to members, 55.
97
Of the 176,537 who voted during the referendum, 100,418 voted for six o’clock. See South
Australian Alliance, Facts for Reformers, 1916-1917, 3. 11pm was the next favoured option.
98
Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 195. On the contribution of Methodists in New South Wales to the
adoption of six o’clock closing in 1916, see Samantha Frappell, ‘Methodists and the Campaigns for
Six O’Clock Hotel Closing in New South Wales, Aldersgate Papers 10 (September 2012): 30-49.
99
Phillips, Defending “A Christian Country”, 270.
160
Sunday Observance
Along with intemperance, Sabbath desecration continued to pre-occupy the
interests of the annual Conferences, which regularly implored Methodists ‘to use
every legitimate means both public and private to counteract this growing evil’.100 As
established in the previous section, Sabbath desecration and intemperance were
inextricably connected, and the defence of one implied the defence of the other.
Despite the practice of evangelicals in general and Methodists in particular to keep
out of politics, self-exclusion did not extend to the issue of the preservation of the
Sabbath both as a Christian imperative and a religious principle for national wellbeing. An active campaigner for the defence of Christendom in which the state
upheld universal religious values such as Sabbath observance, Conference urged
Methodists, as citizens, ‘to exert an influence upon the Legislature’:
Whatever be your opinions on matters of government policy, do not forget
that it is righteousness that exalteth a nation. As God’s laws are the best
laws, that people will be the best governed whose rulers and legislators most
respect and seek closely to imitate the divine commands.101
The emphasis that Methodists placed on Sabbath observance, while in agreement
with their understood role in society as interpreter of moral law, restricted their
ability to engage in a more imaginative way on a wider range of public issues.
Hence, the last three decades of the nineteenth-century saw Methodists defending
long-held positions such as Sabbath observance, and adding further violations such
as train travel, excursions and opening of the public library and museum.102 In
addition to Sabbath indiscretions, there were other activities grouped into the rather
broad category of worldly amusements and recreations, which might or might not
take place on a Sunday. These included with some qualifications: dancing, theatre,
opera, reading popular novels, and card-playing, and even sports that led to
exhaustion.103 In 1882, Bible Christians were urged not to play cricket on a Sunday,
Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church, Minutes of South Australia Conference, 1879, annual
address to members, 36.
101
Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church, Minutes of South Australia Conference, 1880, annual
address to members, 39-40.
102
The Adelaide public library and museum were opened on Sunday afternoons in 1879. The Belair
National Park opened in 1891 and became a popular destination for picnics by Sunday train travellers.
See Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 201-202.
103
See for example, SAPMR, October 1879, 387-394.
100
161
as it was a ‘pleasurable amusement’ which could affect negatively personal religious
practice.104 The editor of the South Australian Primitive Methodist Record outlined
two governing principles to determine whether such activities were condemned or
embraced. The first was whether the activity re-invigorated the human body, and the
second was whether the action led to ‘some real beneficial work in the world’.105
‘Life is for action, solid work’, claimed the editor. Amusements and recreation
weakened religious commitment and did not enhance learning. ‘We are not patrons
of ignorance. We desire the diffusion of useful knowledge. We would have our
people a reading, as well as a praying people’, meant that Methodists had to be
judicious in their selection of material. Avoid ‘light, frothy, vapid novels’ in
preference for ‘solid, healthy, instructive literature’.106
However, Christian piety based on boundaries of differentiation solved one
problem, but created another. Methodists believed in the distinction between otherworldly and worldly, ‘between those who are not of the world and those who are’.107
Sustained by a rigorous tension between God and humanity, spirit and flesh, worked
out in a dualism of belief and practice, ‘vital religion’ ebbed and flowed between
belief and practice, between theology and the Methodist way of life. What set
evangelicals apart, wrote Hilton, ‘was the emphasis they gave to particular
doctrines’.108 One of the chief doctrines was that of sin. H. P. Liddon in Some
Elements of Religion, published in 1872, argued that ‘Christianity lives or dies by its
doctrine of sin. Temper it, reconceive it or merely soften its features, and you
jeopardise the entire Christian faith. Sin is what made Christianity necessary’. 109
Liddon understood a drift that occurred in early evangelical thought on the nature
and understanding of sin. Seen originally as part of the human predicament, by the
middle of the nineteenth-century, sin had come to be associated with proscribed
activities such as Sabbath desecration, excessive drinking, dancing, and theatre
Bible Christian Methodist Church, Minutes of South Australia Conference, 1882, 159.
SAPMR, October 1879, 388, 390.
106
Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church, Minutes of South Australia Conference, 1861, 47.
107
Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church, Minutes of South Australia Conference, 1877, annual
address to members, 33.
108
Quoted in Boyd Hilton, The Age of Atonement: The Influence of Evangelicalism on Social and
Economic Thought 1785-1865 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), 8.
109
Quoted in Dominic Erdozain, ‘The Secularisation of Sin in the Nineteenth Century’, 59-88; 59.
104
105
162
going.110 Crucially, by the last two decades of the nineteenth-century, sin
increasingly identified itself in acts of selective social engagement, for which
attendance at public worship was the remedy. So declared the Bible Christian
Conference in 1889:
Whilst we view with alarm the growing tendency to secularise the Sabbath
on the part of the public, and with dissatisfaction the readiness of the
Government to provide railway accommodation to facilitate marine and
other excursions on the Lord’s Day, we are most of all profoundly impressed
with the necessity of our church members and adherents to discountenance
all forms of Sunday social visiting, being persuaded that this visiting each
other discourages that due regard for the regular Divine services whose
imperative claims upon their devotion demands a more frequent attendance
at the public means of grace than unfortunately obtains.111
A strenuous Puritanical rigour on such matters as Sabbath observance and the
avoidance of leisure activities may have appealed to the regular churchgoer in need
of direction on where to tread, but for the public, mystery and adventure were found
elsewhere. The anti-amusement rhetoric had little to do with soteriology, and
everything to do with opposing ‘secular pleasure’, ‘which seemed to be at the heart
of all that the evangelicals opposed, and increasingly it defined them’.112
Conclusion
In the late nineteenth-century, new intellectual thinking, posed particularly by
Darwinian evolutionary theory, higher criticism, and Christian socialism, challenged
the once dominant conversionist-revivalist ethos of South Australian Methodism.
These challenges affected how some within the Methodist churches understood
revivalism and its practice. The various issues highlighted a fundamental question:
should Methodism abandon its revivalist heritage altogether with its emphasis on
personal conversion and growth in holiness? The emergence of a liberalised
Methodism typified by Gilmore and Thompson reflected openness to new thought
and a willingness to experiment with the implications of embracing elements of the
110
Dominic Erdozain, The Problem of Pleasure: Sport, Recreation and the Crisis of Victorian
Religion (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2010), 41-84.
111
SABCMag, February 1889, 63. House-to-house visitation by Methodists was a ‘desecration’ of the
Sabbath, at least until the First World War if it precluded attendance at public worhip. See Methodist
Church of Australasia, Minutes of South Australia Conference, 1909, annual address to members, 48.
112
Erdozain, The Problem of Pleasure, 68.
163
intellectual challenges posed. This was best seen as the social gospellers at the
Wellington Square Primitive Methodist Church, together with the socially-minded
evangelicals at the Pirie Street Wesleyan Church, the two ‘cathedrals’, provided
Methodism with both the intellectual rigour and the experience of a social welfareevangelistic praxis. Revivalism waned in the face of these.
Also during this period, Methodism continued its unrelenting campaign to
maintain its emphasis on temperance and the sanctity of the Sunday. Clearly, forms
of Sunday desecration identified collectively as ‘social evils’ or sins continued to be
denounced in annual gatherings.113 This was understandable given the linkage made
between the universal application of the Biblical law and wider society. ‘Vital
religion’ prosecuted an unwavering call to Sunday observance based on an inflexible
one-dimensional policy. To suggest otherwise, was to admit defeat. Seen as an
unambiguous social problem, Sunday desecration, complete with its own catalogue
of sins to be avoided and condemned, continued to be the subject of an
institutionalised campaign of eradication. As agents of social and moral reform,
Methodists saw themselves as reformers. The frequent denunciation of sin in the
public arena may have appeased their reformist urges, but increasingly revivalism
came to be identified with the moral reform agenda.
113
See for example, Methodist Church of Australasia, Minutes of South Australia Conference, 1913,
annual address to members, 55.
164
CHAPTER 7
DEMOCRATISATION OF REVIVALISM
In his assessment of South Australian Methodism in A History of the Churches in
Australasia, Ian Breward emphasises that:
One of the great strengths of Methodism was the energy of its independentminded laity, who initiated class meetings and schools, preached, and
pastored before ministers were available… The energy of the Methodist
community was shown in its expansion into the new farming districts, and
the Adelaide suburbs, and its influence at every level of society. 1
This chapter examines the contribution made by Methodist lay agency to advance the
cause of vital religion through revivalist means in the fifteen years before the First
World War. In doing so, the chapter broadens the understanding of a democratising
principle beyond the American experience, and at work in the revivalist growth
narrative of South Australian Methodism. Nathan Hatch has argued that, following
the American Revolution there was an increased emphasis on religious
egalitarianism and empowered democratic values. The ‘democratization’ of
American religion, highlighted the emergence of lay-led leadership within the
American religious culture.2 Although the triumph of populist leadership in the
antebellum republic pre-dates the experience of South Australian Methodism of the
late nineteenth and early twentieth-centuries, a similar trend occurred in Methodist
lay-led revivals.
Apart from the work of the ‘Lady Evangelists’, and the visit of the British
Wesleyan evangelist, Thomas Cook in 1894, Methodism in the 1890s experienced
few revival-type events. It was a time of relatively subdued revival activity.
Methodist churches, particularly those in the city and suburbs, it was said, had to
guard against settling for a ‘quiet manner of working’.3
1
Breward, A History of the Churches in Australasia, 177, 178.
Nathan O. Hatch, The Democratization of American Religion (New Haven, CT: Yale University
Press, 1989). See also David W. Bebbington, Baptists Through the Centuries: A History of a Global
People (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2010), 85.
3
As early as 1884, the Rev. J. B. Stephenson as minister of the Pirie Street Methodist Church,
cautioned Methodists on the issue. This occurred at the Pirie Street church anniversary celebrations in
2
165
By contrast, the fifteen years before the First World War was a time of intensified
local revival activity, interspersed with visits by the occasional American evangelist.
The Americans included C. H. Yatman, under the auspices of the YMCA (1899), W.
Edgar Geil (Simultaneous Mission 1902), Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman and Charles M.
Alexander (1909 and 1912), and Charles Reign Scoville (1912), at the invitation of
the Churches of Christ. Conversions recorded for these evangelistic events include:
Yatman (1,076), Geil (a few hundred), Chapman-Alexander (800 in 1909 and 2,000
in 1912), and Scoville (924), making a total of 5,000.4 Although each of these
American-led evangelistic events exhibited, to some degree, the temperament and
style of the missioner, they shared some mutual features that distinguished them from
the local counterpart. They were non-denominational in character – with
representatives of the main Protestant denominations on the organising committees
(apart from the Churches of Christ-sponsored Scoville mission). They centred on the
state’s largest population base in Adelaide, although the second Chapman-Alexander
mission of 1912 travelled to major regional centres such as Petersburg, Broken Hill,
Port Pirie, and Mount Gambier. Furthermore, they utilised the most accessible and
largest of public meeting facilities. In this way, the missions aimed for maximum
possible attendance, a large meeting-type atmosphere, and benefited a mainly city
population. These five missions, spread over twenty weeks, accounted for 5,000 out
of 8,636 conversions (58 per cent) obtained in the fifteen-year period.
On the other hand, although local revivalism shared a common characteristic of
short-term duration – from a few days to a few weeks, they were mainly
denominational in character; local in extent – whether rural or suburban; utilising
church facilities; and being either self-or-denominationally funded. In this way, the
missions aimed at maximum, concentrated, small meeting atmosphere, to a mainly
rural population. The 118 local revivalist events, spread over fifteen years, accounted
for 3,636 out of 8,636 conversions (42 per cent). Judged against the criteria of
efficiency, attendance, and impact, the internationally-led event stands apart.
However, when assessed against geographical community reach, local impact, and
maintaining a Methodist conversionist ethos, the local revivalist event suited rural
October 1884. See CW&MJ, 24 October 1884, 6.
4
Conversion figures from Appendix 1.
166
townships and regions. 5 One obvious feature of local revivals in this period is the
extent of lay leadership. Of the 118 recorded revivalist events, 77 were lay-led and
produced 2,780 converts, whilst ordained ministers led 41 events that produced 856
converts, a ratio of more than three to one in favour of lay-led conversions.6 Lay-led
revivalism emerged as an answer to the intellectual challenges of the era.
The study identifies 34 lay people (Appendix 1) who led revivalist events in the
fifteen years before the First World War, and either self-reported their activities or
had their events reported to the denominational papers by circuit representatives.
These included students from Hope Lodge and Angas College, the Barrett Brothers,
Dr. W. G. Torr, Ada Ward, and Sister Lily. The students from Angas College and
Hope Lodge claimed to have secured 399 conversions, the Barrett Brothers 1,189,
Dr. Torr 344, and Sister Lily 339.7 What was significant about the lay evangelists
employed by the Church in the fifteen years before the First World War is that they
complemented the work of the overseas or interstate lay evangelist, and Bible
Christian ‘Lady Evangelists’ of the 1890s, in furthering the process of the
democratisation of revivalism. In doing so, they rose to a new level of authority.
Seen in a larger context, the work of the lay evangelist is consistent with an emergent
democratic ethos within Methodism.
Democratisation of Preaching
The use of laymen as preachers, a tradition within Methodism begun by John
Wesley and widespread within the colonial framework, accounts partly for why
Methodism increased at a faster rate than other denominations in South Australia.
The recognised ability of the layman to produce converts assuaged any hesitancy on
Wesley’s part about their use.8 Their employ within the evangelistic organisation of
Methodism as circuit local preachers under the direction and control of ministers and
the superintendent, but without ordination, itinerancy, and stipend, brought great
5
Conversion figures from Appendix 1.
Conversion and other date from Appendix 1.
7
Conversion figures from Appendix 1. Some Hope Lodge and Angas College students are mentioned
by name. It is not possible to identify the ‘origin’ of all the listed names. Others could well be students
of the two institutions named. The total conversion figure of 2,696 includes 365 designated as ‘other
laity’.
8
Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 12.
6
167
flexibility to the operation of Methodism. It also highlighted two tiers of preaching:
the one professional, institutional, and restricted; the other, unprofessional, public,
and open. Local preachers, largely, without forsaking their daily work, engaged in
the task of aggressive evangelism.
Since the mid-1860s, the itinerant, short-term, and often international, specialist
revivalist, whether ordained as in the case of William ‘California’ Taylor, Thomas
Cook, and C. H. Yatman, or lay, as in Matthew Burnett, Emilia Baeyertz, Ada Ward,
the ‘Lady Evangelists’, and Rodney ‘Gipsy’ Smith, were well known among South
Australian Methodists. They were representatives of the evangelical revivalist
tradition preoccupied with the saving of souls. There were those who contended that
‘the judicious employment of lay agents seems almost indispensable to a widelyextended revival of Religion’.9
By the 1860s, English Methodism had emerged as ‘the most successful example
of a religious democracy’. Many ‘working-class political societies’ modelled their
structure and leadership on Methodist organisation.10 True to its British parentage,
South Australian Methodism reflected the same ethos, and by the time of Methodist
Union in 1900, religious democracy, judged by the criterion of a unified Methodist
polity, had advanced beyond that of Britain.11 Methodism had transformed itself
from a ‘ministerial autocracy’ under John Wesley to a ‘ministerial democracy’ in
South Australia at the time of Union, contextualised since foundation by the
permeation of a democratic spirit of religious plurality and equality.
According to the Scottish historian Iain Murray, ‘the idea of lay ministry separate
9
Archibald N. Mackray, Revivals of Religion: Their Place and Power in the Christian Church
(Sydney: John L. Sherriff, 1870), 29.
10
Robert F. Wearmouth, Methodism and the Working-Class Movements of England 1800-1850,
reprint of 1937 edn. (Clifton, NJ: Augustus M. Kelley, 1972), 213-218.
11
After the death of John Wesley, authoritarian Methodism split a number of times over the issue of
lay representation at the annual Conference. These divisions were transported to the colony. The nonWesleyan churches in South Australia, Bible Christians, Primitive Methodists, and Methodist New
Connexion all had lay and ordained representatives in their governing Conferences. After 1856, when
Australian Wesleyans formed their own Conference and became independent of Britain, the new
constitution permitted lay representation at Conference, although some matters pertaining to ministers
remained under their control. Methodist Union in 1900 provided for lay and ordained representation at
the annual Conference, with some ministerial matters dealt with by the ministers. This concession to
the Wesleyans by the non-Wesleyan churches meant that the united church achieved an equality of lay
and ordained over almost all (some ministerial issues excluded) Conference business. British
Methodism did not achieve a similar outcome until 1932.
168
from church office had appeared in the eighteenth-century’.12 Appointed to the
ministerial office by the church whose name they represented, and under whose
authority they were thoroughly prepared, teachers and preachers of the Bible with ‘a
good understanding and knowledge of the truth were then commonly regarded as
paramount in those who stood in public to teach and preach’. Where the ministerial
office met and demonstrated this requirement, a ‘high view of the ministry of the
Word’ developed in the herald and hearer of the Word. The importance of layleadership, some of it spontaneous, was evidenced in the ‘Businessman’s Revival’
also known as the ‘Prayer Meeting Revival’ in America from 1857 to 1858. William
G. McLoughlin defined this revival as ‘mass revivalism by urban businessmen
seeking God’s help in time of trouble’.13 The contribution of the laity in every
generation of South Australian Methodism is worthy of further investigation and
analysis, although outside of the scope of this study. Hunt divided the Methodist
constituency in the 1870s into six identifiable groups – businessmen, farmers,
pastoralists, miners, shopkeepers, and tradesman and labourers – who by the 1870s
made Methodism into ‘the most comprehensive religious movement in South
Australia’.14 Women’s contribution is not explicit in such a listing based on social
stratification and economic means, but without their presence and support, Hunt’s
estimation could not have been realised. Sincere, generous, and forthright, men and
women not ordained to any office did immense good for, and in the name of, the
church.
The 1857-1858 ‘layman’s revival’ fuelled the trend to separate lay work from
church office. With particular reference to the teaching offices of the church, Murray
argued that following the revival:
There was a scriptural balance that needed to be recovered. The preacher is
not the beginning and end of Christian witness. But in some quarters the
balance was now thrown too far the other way. If laymen could effectively
conduct prayer-meetings, why could they not also be the evangelists?
Perhaps the foremost public spokesmen for the church did not need to be
12
Iain Murray, Revival and Revivalism: The Making and Marring of American Evangelicalism 17501858 (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1994), 361. Murray’s argument is followed closely in this, and the
next paragraph.
13
William G. McLoughlin, Revivals, Awakenings, and Reform, (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1978), 141.
14
Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 99-102.
169
ministers at all.15
According to Murray, this view became widespread in the 1860s, epitomised by the
work of D. L. Moody, and furthered by a succeeding procession of lay evangelists,
some of whom visited the colony. Furthermore, as revivalism took over
evangelicalism, and as the academic study of theology moved further away from
evangelism in the latter part of the nineteenth-century, ‘the evangelist was now
encouraged to think that his was a work requiring little or no understanding of
theology’.16 In this context, revivalist activism overshadowed the strenuous task of
theological precision.
By the early twentieth century, some within South Australian Methodism
understood the danger of separating evangelism from good theology, and revivalism
from sound biblical truth. In 1906, the editor of the Australian Christian
Commonwealth, in an article entitled, ‘The Survival of Revival’, called for ‘a revival
on permanent lines of belief, with another great discovery of forgotten truth or
privilege’. The editor inferred that, as the Methodist revival brought forth a mandate
for the church to ‘spread Scriptural holiness throughout the land’, then the time was
ripe for a new revival re-affirming ‘forgotten truth or privilege’. 17 The Protestant
reformers Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli found nothing as challenging and profound as
discovering and expounding ‘forgotten truth’. Over two hundred years later, John
Wesley proclaimed the essential Reformation doctrines of justification by faith, the
atonement, regeneration, and the depravity of the human condition, and combined
them with revivalist fervour, thereby standing in the broader evangelical Protestant
tradition.18 Doctrinal truth and revivalist fervour coalesced in the Evangelical
Revival of the eighteenth century. Methodism, like its founder, committed itself to
the propagation of vital evangelical religion, and developed into what Mark Noll
terms an ‘organised evangelical movement’.19 ‘Forgotten truth’, once revealed, is
subject to the movement for its discontinuance or continued veracity. A revival of
15
Murray, Revival and Revivalism, 360.
Murray, Revival and Revivalism, 361.
17
ACC, 19 January 1906, 9.
18
John Coffey, ‘Puritanism, Evangelicalism and the Evangelical Protestant Tradition’, in Michael A.
G. Haykin and Kenneth J. Stewart, eds., The Emergence of Evangelicalism: Exploring Historical
Continuities (Nottingham: IVP, 2008), 270-272.
19
Noll, The Rise of Evangelicalism, 66.
16
170
truth needed religious fervour for its propagation. There were others, however,
within Methodism, for whom a revival was less about ‘forgotten truth’ and more
about application of the right means.
Two months later, in the same serial, an article by the editor headed, ‘How To
Secure a Revival’ appeared, and included various quotations attributed to Reuben A.
Torrey, the prominent American evangelist:
A revival can be had in any Church that will pay the price. If a few devoted
Christians will get together and put themselves entirely at God’s disposal for
him to use them as He will, and then will begin to pray unitedly for a revival
in their Church, and be willing to pray on and on until they have prayed it
through, and then will go out and do personal work among their friends and
others, a revival will soon follow. This is the prescription that never fails. Of
course, the ministers are of first importance in a revival; but even if a
minister opposes he can be changed by prayer, or a revival can be had
without him.
The editor adds personal experience of a circuit revival wrought by prayer and
intercessions, with a statement of agreement to Torrey’s claim that ‘any Church can
have a revival that will pay the price’. Torrey’s claim that ministerial involvement is
not required for a revival is the logical outcome of a process that democratised
revivals and lessened a once high view of the ministry of the Word. The editor’s
views, whilst seemingly contradictory, are rather more reflective of divergent
understandings as to the object of revivals, and the means required to achieve them.20
After all, the employment of lay evangelists might be interpreted as an attempt to
‘meet poor people as social equals’, rather than part of a process that contributed to
an injurious perception of the preached Word.21
Hope Lodge and Angas College Students
Hope Lodge and Angas College accepted missionary candidates for training
under the direction of its founder and principal, the Presbyterian-trained clergyman,
William Lockart Morton (1851-1928).22 Missionary training at Hope Lodge began
20
An editorial which puts forward a high view of the pulpit and preaching which requires rigorous
standards, was published in the ACC, 24 August 1906, 8-9.
21
Quote only in Inglis, Churches and the Working Classes in Victorian England, 44.
22
On the establishment and history of Hope Lodge and Angas College in Adelaide, see Darrell
Paproth, ‘Faith Missions, Personality, and Leadership: William Lockhart Morton and Angas College’,
171
soon after Morton commenced working at the Inebriates’ Retreat at Belair in 1893, in
addition to his pastoral work at Goodwood Presbyterian Church. Missionary training
activities transferred to North Adelaide in 1898, following the acquisition by the
noted philanthropist J. H. Angas of Whinham College building on the corner of Ward
and Jefcott Streets. Renamed Angas College, 243 students, of whom 94 were
women, received missionary and evangelistic training between 1898 and 1922. This
reflected the ethos of evangelical Christianty, identified later with the Bible College
movement, as exemplified in the Melbourne Bible Institute.
Other Bible Colleges established around this time include the Missionary
Training Institute at Kew in Melbourne (1892), Chapman-Alexander Bible Institute
in Adelaide (1914), the Sydney Missionary and Bible College (1916), Melbourne
Bible Institute (1920), Adelaide Bible Institute (1924) and the Perth Bible Institute
(1928). Promoted by conservative evangelicals, ‘they are best understood as a
response to the missionary and revivalistic enthusiasm at the turn of the century’.23
Despite Morton’s somewhat ‘despotic’ manner, he appealed to many within the
Protestant churches in Adelaide concerned with preserving evangelical truth, in
which individual salvation took precedence over social righteousness and ‘liberal
theology’. Morton was reliant on their support to attract prospective students. It was,
arguably, the start of a distinctively evangelical network.
A number of these students, both women and men, led revivalist missions in the
Wesleyan and later Methodist churches from the second half of 1899 through to
1907. Morton sometimes engaged in leading such events. Typical of these was a
three-week evangelistic mission at Yorketown and Edithburgh, on the southern tip of
Yorke Peninsula, in August 1904. Between 30 and 40 conversions took place with
people connected with the Methodist, Baptist, and Anglican churches.24 Morton’s
style and manner were appreciated:
Mr. Morton’s personality helps his work.His manly figure, his fine voice,
wisely modulated, his genial face, and dramatic style, all help his message;
Lucas 27 & 28 (2000): 64-89. This paragraph is based on his work. On Morton, see David Parker,
‘Morton, William Lockhart (1851-1928)’, ADEB, 269-270.
23
Piggin, Spirit, Word and World, 91-92.
24
See Appendix 1; ACC, 26 August 1904, 5.
172
and that message, delivered with great earnestness, sometimes amounting to
passion, lighted up by incident and anecdote, drawn from his own widely
varying experiences and enriched from the stores of knowledge which he
has acquired, is not only attractive, but penetrating and effective. Almost
every night there was some response to the persuasive appeals of the
missioner. 25
As Morton looked to James Hudson Taylor (1832-1905) and George Müller (18051898) as exemplars of ‘living by faith’, some prospective evangelists and
missionaries would have found in Morton an exemplar of revivalist evangelical
preaching. 26
One wonders if this was the experience of at least two Angas College students
who were later ordained as ministers in the Methodist Church. Samuel Forsyth
(1881-1960) and Thomas Willason (1882-1939), both of Irish birth, entered Angas
College in 1905, with the intention of training for missionary work in India. 27
Evangelistic missions conducted by Forsyth and Willason were an integral part of the
missionary training received at Angas College. In October 1906 and mid-1907, they
led evangelistic missions in the Ardrossan Circuit of the Methodist Church. The 11week mission yielded 80 converts and a similar increase in church membership, an
increase from one to five Christian Endeavour societies, and the commencement of a
Sunday school. The conversions took place in the circuit as follows: Dowlingville
(14), Petersville (3), Pine Point (28), Sandilands (5), Clinton Centre (17), and
Ardrossan (13). The converts included young people, as well as married and single
adults. The mission was noted for ‘rousing preaching and singing’, and for prayer
and cooperation by the faithful people of our churches’. For the converts, the
missioners claimed, ‘evils have been broken, and lives made happier; racing,
gambling, drinking, dancing, and other vices have been left behind, and those who
25
ACC, 26 August 1904, 5.
Paproth claims that the ‘faith principle’ as evidenced in the life of James Hudson Taylor, founder of
the China Inland Mission, and George Müller, who both relied on voluntary offerings, influenced
Morton’s life. For example, in the early years of Angas College, there were no fees or boarding
charges; instead, voluntary contributions supported the institution. Morton later modified this
approach. Paproth, Faith Missions, Personality, and Leadership, 13.
27
According to Arnold Hunt, Forsyth and Willason entered Hope Lodge at Belair. Paproth states that
Morton moved missionary training from the Hope Lodge, Belair site to North Adelaide in 1898 and
renamed it Angas College. Hope Lodge continued to be known as the ‘Inebriate’s Retreat’. Arnold
Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 319. Paproth, Faith Missions, Personality, and Leadership, 8.
26
173
followed them are now worshippers with us’. 28 No longer destined for India, the
Methodist Church accepted Forsyth as a probationary minister in 1908, and
immediately appointed him as Conference evangelist, while Willason was accepted
as a probationer in 1910. Forsyth served in various circuits before being appointed as
Superintendent of the Adelaide Central Methodist Mission in 1929, a position he
held until 1952.29 Willason served in seven circuits before his appointment as
superintendent of the Port Adelaide Central Mission in 1924, a position he held until
1935. Respected greatly because of their work with the unemployed and poor, both
men guided the two central missions through the difficult depression years.30
Barrett Brothers
Other lay people who worked as revivalists in this period include two men
referred to always as the ‘Barrett Brothers’. Early on, they joined with their father
and local preacher, R. Barrett, and the circuit minister, G. Hall, to conduct mission
services at Coromandel Valley in 1899. Between July 1899 and May 1902, Samuel
R. and John W. Barrett led revival missions mainly in the northern areas of the state.
Large attendances and ‘many cases of conversion’ resulted.31 Afterwards, they
relocated to New South Wales as tent missioners. In 1903, during a nine-week tent
mission campaign at Balmain in Sydney, the brothers recorded 500 conversions and
stayed on for a further twelve-months.32
In 1907, Conference appointed an Evangelistic Committee to recruit, manage,
and direct the work, in cooperation with circuits, of a number of Conferencemanaged evangelists throughout the state. These included, among others, the Barrett
28
ACC, 14 June 1907, 13; 16 August 1907, 4.
Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 319; Brian J. Chalmers, ‘Need, Not Creed: A History of the Adelaide
Central Methodist Mission 1900-1952’ ( MA Thesis, Flinders University of South Australia, 1986),
147-211; Brian Dickey, ‘Forsyth, Samuel (1881-1960)’, ADEB, 118-119. I. Forsyth, He Came From
Ireland (Adelaide: Advertiser, 1952).
30
Arnold D. Hunt, ‘Willason, Thomas Parkin (1882-1939)’, ADEB, 406-407; Brian Dickey and Elaine
Martin, Building Community: A History of the Port Adelaide Central Mission (Adelaide: Port
Adelaide Wesley Centre, 1999), 54-83.
31
CW&MJ, 28 July 1899, 10. On the work of the Barrett Brothers, see also John David Calvert, ‘A
History of the Adelaide Bible Institute (ABI) 1924-1962’ (MA Thesis, University of South Australia,
2000), 32-33.
32
Evans, Evangelism and Revivals in Australia 1880-1914, 306.
29
174
Brothers, Forsyth, Willason, and Dr. W. G. Torr.33 Following Methodist Union in
1900, the much expected and hoped for ‘great revival’ never materialised. Seven
years later, Conference, still concerned over its absence, believed ‘the time had come
for a great sweeping movement along evangelistic lines’. The widespread
deployment of evangelists was as much a response to a lack of a general revival as it
was to effect a ‘revival of well-organised and continuous effort to harvest the results
of the regular preaching of the Gospel’.34
The work of the Barrett Brothers intensified in 1907 after their return from New
South Wales. Using choruses, handbells, diagrams, and musical glasses, they
conducted revival services in twenty circuits. Their revivalist preaching, singing, and
gospel entertainment attracted large audiences wherever they went, and in their own
report of the year’s work, claimed 850 conversions. ‘Glory! Glory! Glory!!!’ headed
the report of the Moonta revival they led in June 1907. ‘Oh, such a revival! The
power and glory and the blessing were marvellous’. There were nightly ‘late hour’
church meetings, midday prayer meetings, and ‘conversions at every gathering’. In a
‘young ladies’ class of forty scholars thirty-five were converted. During church
services, crowds occupied the penitents’ form while ‘relatives and friends’ rejoiced.
One correspondent claimed that ‘such a revival had not been witnessed here since
Thomas Cook’s mission’.35 The international evangelist and ordained minister were
not indispensible for the success of a local revival. Lay evangelists, as represented by
Forsyth, Willason, and the Barrett Brothers, could engender revivalist fervour not
only in local and relatively remote rural areas untouched by the overseas evangelist,
but also in Adelaide and Moonta that were traditionally on the overseas revivalist
33
Some of the ‘others’ included, Messrs. Cuttriss, Millar, Barnes, Chambers, Dingle, C. Hodger of
Laura, W. Smith of Wirrabara, MacDonald, Stanton, H. Lyons, and the Rev. David O’Donnell. See
Appendix 1 for 1907.
34
ACC, 22 March 1907, 9.
35
ACC, 5 July 1907, 13; 12 July 1907, 7; 26 July 1907, 12; 28 February 1908, 10; Barrier Miner, 16
September 1907, 3. The visit of the British Connexional evangelist Thomas Cook to Adelaide (Pirie
Street and Kent Town Wesleyan churches), Moonta, Kadina, Burra, Port Pirie, and Broken Hill, 11
April to 25 June 1894 produced an estimated 2,307 converts. The Moonta mission, 9-18 May reported
278 converts. Moonta Mines Wesleyan Minister, Alfred P. Burgess mentions 789 converts in a private
letter to his father in Adelaide. This is later revised upwards to 907 This figure is probably
representative of all Methodist Churches (Wesleyan, Bible Christian, Primitive) in the Moonta area.
See Appendix 1 and CW&MJ, 6 July 1894, 6; Thomas Cook, Days of God’s Right Hand: Our Mission
Tour in Australasia and Ceylon (London: Charles H. Kelly, 1896), 61, 63. The CW&MJ of 25 May
1894, 3, claimed that the Moonta revival ‘exerted a powerful influence over nearly every church in the
neighbourhood, there being additions to the membership of thirteen different places of worship’.
175
circuit.36
W. G. Torr and ‘Continuous Revival’
Another lay person who peregrinated throughout the state in 1907 was Dr. W. G.
Torr (1853-1939), educationist, evangelist, and conchologist. Prior to his
appointment in 1886 as headmaster of the Bible Christian boys’ school Way College,
Torr was a teacher and headmaster in the Education Department. He studied theology
at Oxford, and law at Cambridge and Dublin, where he obtained his doctorate, in
preparation for the headmastership at Way College. Following Methodist Union,
Way College merged with Prince Alfred College (Wesleyan) in 1903 and Torr was
without a position. He did evangelistic work for a few years before establishing a
Training Home at Brighton in 1909 for evangelists, missionaries, and local
preachers.37
Torr spent five months in the South East of South Australia in 1907. He
‘commenced operations on the Lucindale Mission, then opened fire on Naracoorte’.
Following ‘successful operations’ at both locations, Torr spent two weeks at
Millicent (population 800) that resulted in twenty-seven adults and thirteen child
converts, and some forty renewed consecrations to Christ. Invited to conduct a
mission, the circuit officials were hopeful that Torr’s presence would lead to greater
‘spiritual life and power’. Preceded by prayer and town-wide promotion of the
forthcoming mission, the intensity of the meetings increased over the fortnight as
steady attendances maintained interest throughout. At the second Sunday evening
service, because of the crowd, some people were unable to gain entry; the meeting
lasted two and a half hours, and was ‘unprecedented in attendance and power’. A
men’s meeting held the following Sunday was of a ‘high order’, while the women’s
meeting was ‘one of the most remarkable in the writer’s experience’. Later, some 50
people from different churches attended the communion service, ‘an experience
36
The week-long visit of the lay woman Ada Ward to Adelaide’s Pirie Street Methodist Church and
the Exhibition Building in 1907, attracted thousands to the meetings.
37
On W. G. Torr, see Arnold D. Hunt, ‘Torr, William George (1853-1939)’, ADEB, 375-376; Hunt,
This Side of Heaven, 253-257, 264, 267, 274. For an account of Torr’s life see P. M. T. Tilbrook, The
Life and Times of Dr. William George Torr (Adelaide: Methodist Historical Society, 1977). For
tributes following his death see ACC, 25 August 1939, 6; 22 September 1939, 1-3, 14; 29 September
1939, 10; 22 December 1939, 6. The Brighton Training Home, transferred to the Methodist Church in
1920, soon afterwards became the church’s first theological college.
176
probably unknown before in Millicent’. Some of the mission’s ‘visible results’
included: ‘a genuinely revived church’, ‘healing of old quarrels’, a ‘sense of personal
responsibility for Christian service’, ‘increased mutual affection’, and a ‘heavy blow
to outside criticism and indifference’.38 The mission concluded with a reported
assessment of Torr’s visit:
As one who has had the honour of being a humble worker in evangelistic
missions conducted by the Rev. T. Cook, Rev. J. McNeill (of London), and
our own late Australian, John McNeil, and other evangelists, I venture to
assert that our own Dr. Torr is worthy to be ranked amongst such honoured
men as an evangelist. What is more, Dr. Torr is doing a grand work in
spheres usually regarded by evangelists as impracticable, viz., the remote
and obscure stations where sometimes only a dozen or 30 people might
gather to a meeting, and much hard, discouraging work has to be done. No
wonder God blesses his labours, and no wonder the hearts of many of our
country ministers are warmed toward this man, who, with his fine
endowment of graces, gifts, and personality, comes to help and cheer them
in their lonely uphill work. 39
Far from any estimate of community indifference to revival religion, the
Millicent mission experience demonstrated the strength of rural Methodism. It
confirmed the value and effectiveness of a lay agent in revival activity, and the
spiritual receptivity of the townsfolk to the call of the local church and missioner for
‘revival work’. In December, Torr summarised the results of his time in the South
East: ‘257 consecrations and 439 conversions’.40 As four-fifths of his reported
conversions were young people, Torr was hopeful that a follow-up mission in 1908
by the Barrett Brothers or other evangelists would help to consolidate the work
undertaken. Why did Torr consider this necessary? The success of the Torr mission
focussed Methodist attention on the future prospects of denominational expansion in
the South East, despite the historical strength of regional Scottish Presbyterianism.
The prospects of expected economic and rural expansion added to the optimism
generated by the extent and numerical achievement of the mission.41 Torr, like a host
of Methodist evangelists before him, believed that the Methodist Church was the
institution best placed to spread scriptural holiness throughout the land, and to offer
the means of grace to the people. In order to consolidate his work in the South East,
38
ACC, 31 May 1907, 12.
ACC, 31 May 1907, 12.
40
ACC, 13 December 1907, 3.
41
ACC, 29 November 1907, 8-9.
39
177
Torr was of the opinion that the circuit, working in concert with the itinerant
evangelist, could effect continuous revival.
An article by Torr, entitled ‘How to have a Continuous Revival’, appeared in the
Australian Christian Commonwealth, in September 1907. Torr’s strategy – a fourstep programmatic plan of identifying potential converts, use of specially appointed
visitors, completion of decision cards, and follow-up action to recruit new converts
as soul-winners for the next programme – was part of the revivalist heritage, in
which the application of an appropriate method produces converts; one could thereby
become a ‘soul-winner’.42 Whilst Torr acknowledged the work and place of the
evangelist, he emphasised the importance of an ongoing programme of soul winning
to produce a continuous revival.
There is no South Australian Methodist evidence to suggest that a continuous
revival prior to 1907 had occurred, or even came close to occurring. By asserting that
continuous revival was possible, Torr situated the revival as the normal disposition of
church activity, provided certain steps manifested its presence. This left less room for
the understanding that revival was an extraordinary event, and diminished the value
and significance of the normal, thereby institutionalising revivalism. What is clear is
that periodic revivals of relatively short duration were a distinctive feature of
Methodism up until at least the First World War. The experience of Torr’s 1907
South East evangelistic campaign, and others such as that of Matthew Burnett in the
early 1880s is suggestive of a revivalist-driven campaign, characterised by a
programmed sequence of localised, short-term revivals. The continuous nature is
qualified only by the revivals’ association with the itinerancy of the evangelist, and
not by the passing of time in any locality. This means that revival was continually
happening somewhere, but not continuously in one place. However, as this study
demonstrates, when viewed from the perspective of a century of revivalism, colony
and statewide, it is fair to suggest that there was hardly a time when Methodism did
not know of revivals. The lay evangelists employed by the Methodist Church in
42
ACC, 6 September 1907, 10. Torr’s approach to obtain conversions is reminiscent of Charles
Finney’s application of the ‘right use of the appropriate means’. See earlier reference to Finney. Torr
completed 1,927 articles headed, ‘Talks to Young Men’ under the nom de plume ‘Old Oxford’ for the
weekly church paper. His articles were popular, of a racy style, and reflected an evangelicalliberalism. His articles warrant further study, as they had widespread impact on ministers.
178
1907, were not only effective in gaining converts, but further enhanced the role and
place of the laity within the context of Methodism’s inherent impulse to evangelise
and spread ‘vital religion’. In addition, of the 1,372 reported conversions recorded
for 1907, the lay evangelists secured 1,317. Methodist Church membership rose from
16,329 in 1906 to 17,009 in 1907, an increase of 680 members.43 In 1907, lay
preaching for conversion was by far the most significant factor in membership
growth. The appointment of lay preachers and evangelists illustrated a trend within
Methodism begun years earlier.
Ada Ward
Two female evangelists were also prominent in the latter part of the first decade
of the twentieth-century. The first to visit Adelaide was the little known ‘converted
actress’ Miss Ada Ward from May to June 1907. Under the auspices of the Methodist
Church, Pirie Street Church (capacity 2,000) was full every night with the church
crowded an hour before the meeting began. The final night’s venue was the much
larger capacity Jubilee Exhibition Building. Overall, few conversions occurred
despite the large crowds. There were few reports in the Australian Christian
Commonwealth, but in the Adelaide dailies, eleven articles appeared for the nine-day
evangelistic mission. Two years later, in July 1909, amid the international profile of
Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman and Charles M. Alexander, and a reported 800 conversions,
there was extensive Methodist coverage in the Australian Christian Commonwealth,
but the secular press was less than enthusiastic, with only four sub-standard
articles.44
Despite limited Methodist publicity, the evangelical sub-culture proved receptive
to Ada Ward, ever alert to the next visiting revivalist with the power to draw capacity
crowds. Amid an atmosphere of heightened expectancy and the prospect of new
converts, Ward’s extempore theatrical style of preaching, full of story-telling and
real-life experiences, appealed to the emotions more than the cerebral. This
heightened the dramatic effect of her meetings, which tended to be relatively free of
emotionalism and focussed instead on the inward aspects of sentimental evangelical
43
44
See Appendix 2 for details.
For Ada Ward and Chapman and Alexander see Appendix 1.
179
Christianity and experiential religion. Each evening, large crowds gathered outside
Pirie Street Methodist Church well before the meeting began. The people anticipated
some ‘sensational episode’, as they gathered, waited, and then surged into the church
as men ‘shouted’ and ‘women shrieked’ amid broken umbrellas and torn dresses.
Novelty value was provided by the stream of curious on-lookers as they paraded past
the church doors in search of a glimpse of the once-worldly actress who turned her
elocutionary talent into a talent for the Master.45 In the eyes of the secular press at
least, there was a perception that the religio-cultural climate of Adelaide favoured
feminised religion; after all, here was a woman empowered by religious affiliation.46
The experience of the lay-employed evangelists within or invited by South
Australian Methodism in 1907 consolidated and extended the opportunities for lay
participation. The laity could now take their place alongside the ordained as heralds
of revivalist fervour and aggressive evangelism. No longer was the personal presence
of the ordained minister essential or even required for such tasks.
Sister Lily
The second prominent female evangelist of the period was Lily Cowmeadow,
usually known as Sister Lily. She arrived in Adelaide from Melbourne in July 1910
and undertook evangelistic work throughout the state on behalf of the Methodist
Church. A third-generation Methodist preacher, she had worked for ten years as an
evangelist with the United Free Methodists in Cornwall, Devon and Wales, preceded
by seven years of ‘rescue and midnight work’ in London, Glasgow and Bristol. She
emigrated to Melbourne for health reasons and continued in evangelistic work,
before she moved on to South Australia to carry on her work.47
Sister Lily travelled around South Australia for two years from 1910 to 1912, and
conducted evangelistic missions, mainly in the north of the state, with great
acceptance. She secured 339 conversions from revival meetings as she preached and
45
Advertiser, 27 May 1907, 7; Chronicle, 1 June 1907, 53; Register, 3 June 1907, 6.
For a brief assessment of ‘Feminized Christianity’ and its development in America up to the
beginning of the twentieth-century see Kristy Maddux, ‘The Feminised Gospel: Aimee Semple
McPherson and the Gendered Performance of Christianity’, Women’s Studies in Communication 35,
(2012): 42-67, at 47.
47
ACC, 19 August 1910, 12; Advertiser, 13 August 1910, 11; 17 August 1912, 22.
46
180
sung her way around the circuits. Widely reported at the time, the Laura circuit
revival in mid-1911 resulted in 145 conversions over a three-month period. This
included evangelistic visits by Sister Lily from the town of Laura to the smaller
localities such as Tarcowie, Yarrowie and Stone Hut. Mission visits lasted from one
to three weeks at each location and followed a familiar pattern. Nightly meetings
increased in size and intensity as the mission went on. The services often included
Alexander’s songs, and Lily’s earnest preaching centred on the cross of Christ,
interspersed with ‘striking incidents’, illustrations, and anecdotes from either
personal experience or written sources. These indicated her understanding of the
human condition. At the end of her evangelistic address, Sister Lily, driven by ‘an
intense love of soul saving’, invited those ‘under conviction’ to the front, where
penitents were spoken to by helpers and ‘pointed to the Saviour’, manifested by the
‘converting power of God’, whilst others found themselves ‘quickened’ or ‘stirred’.
At the final meeting, the Circuit minister received as members on trial those who had
made ‘decisions for Christ’ during the revival.48
Lily’s second and follow-up visit to the Laura Circuit and, in particular, Stone
Hut, in August 1912 was, for Lily, ‘one of the most touching experiences of her life’:
As she faced a crowded congregation and looked once more on the faces of
earnest men and women, of lads and lassies, who had given themselves to
the Lord on the occasion of her visit some months before, she could see in
mental vision the holy confusion of people flocking to the front and hear the
simultaneous singing, praying, and praising God, and the exclamation of that
dear servant of God who, with tears streaming down his cheeks, exclaimed,
“It was never so seen in Stone Hut before”, she was almost overcome with
emotion.49
Here was a synergetic moment of spiritual and emotional satisfaction; a
demonstration of the validity of her work. She spent two weeks in the circuit,
preached eight times, lectured seven times, and travelled 250 kilometres.50 On
occasions, Lily, like the Bible Christian ‘Lady Evangelists’ of the 1890s, and other
female speakers who were her contemporaries, encountered opposition to the notion
of female preachers. However, once her objectors overcame initial barriers and
48
ACC, 28 July 1911, 7; 4 August 1911, 2, 7, 9; 11 August 1911, 4; 8 September 1911, 7; 13 October
1911, 7; 31 May 1912, 16; 21 June 1912, 18; 5 July 1912, 14; 2 August 1912, 14; 11 October 1912, 5.
49
ACC, 11 October 1912, 5.
50
ACC, 30 August 1912, 4.
181
attended her first meetings, some of them became admirers.51 Despite her valued
work among the northern country circuits (some she visited twice in the two years
from mid-1910 to mid-1912), there is nothing to suggest work outside of the northern
region. Conference, pleased with her evangelistic success, urged, in February 1912,
that she be sent to Eyre Peninsula, with the proviso that the necessary funds be
locally provided.52 No such undertaking was given. By 1912, Eyre Peninsula
consisted of twelve circuits, seven of whom received help from connexional funds,
twenty-three churches and sixty preaching places such as domestic buildings,
schools, barns and halls. Many of the church buildings were galvanised iron and
timber structures. With a membership of 714 spread over 43,000 square kilometres,
and few concentrations of more than thirty church members, the District possessed
few resources beyond its own bare needs.53 Sister Lily worked in the north for most
of the remainder of 1912, and by October returned to Adelaide. There are no reports
of any work undertaken in city circuits, as Adelaide’s Methodists were by this time
caught up in the excitement of the second Chapman-Alexander mission. Sister Lily
left South Australia at the beginning of 1913 for Western Australia, where she
completed a year of evangelistic work before returning to England in December
1913.54
The Chapman-Alexander mission overshadowed the evangelistic scene in South
Australia in 1912. With the successful 1909 mission in mind, expectations were high
for the expanded mission that started in Adelaide on 19 May, followed by meetings
in Petersburg, Broken Hill, Port Pirie, Mount Gambier, and concluded at Bordertown
in July. Soon after the mission finished, the Churches of Christ undertook the Charles
Scoville mission from August to September 1912. Both required extensive planning
and publicity. Nightly crowds of 4,500-6,000 attended the three-week ChapmanAlexander meetings in the Exhibition Building in Adelaide. Lesser, but still
substantial crowds attended the Scoville mission. These missions produced an
51
ACC, 11 October 1912, 5.
Methodist Church of Australasia, Minutes of South Australia Conference, 1912, vol. 2, SLSA SRG
4/1/1, 755.
53
Methodist Church of Australasia, Minutes of South Australia Conference, 1912, 70. See also Hunt,
This Side of Heaven, 242.
54
ACC, 11 October 1912, 5; Register, 31 January 1914, 6.
52
182
estimated 2,000 and 924 converts respectively.55
Sister Lily Cowmeadow’s sojourn in South Australia demonstrated her ability
and confidence, as befitted a professional female evangelist. She exhibited integrity
of purpose in her work through her loyalty both to the church she represented, and to
the ordained ministers alongside whom she laboured. Like the ‘Lady Evangelists’ of
the 1890s, Sister Lily took the opportunities as they presented themselves, rather than
protest her exclusion from the ordained ministry. She and other women preachers
contributed to an advancement of women’s issues in the way David Hempton and
Myrtle Hill suggested: ‘evangelical religion was more important than feminism in
enlarging women’s sphere of action during the nineteenth century’.56 Opportunities
for preaching and teaching occurred in institutional settings without institutional
tenure. Sister Lily’s itinerant revivalism enlarged her ability for persuasive public
speaking, drawing crowds of men and women, making converts, and ameliorating
the attitudes of those opposed to women preachers. Despite the disquiet generated by
these attitudes, through her persistence and performance, Sister Lily challenged
gender stereotypes, and, motivated by her religious faith and pride in her preaching
legacy, laboured to fulfil her calling. In doing so, she inspired other women to
explore beyond the domestic sphere.
What does the work of the lay evangelists tell us about Methodist revivalism?
First, the work undertaken by the lay evangelists did not occur in a spiritual or
ecclesiastical vacuum. The Methodist Conferences appointed evangelists, provided
administrative oversight, and coordinated funding in collaboration with the
respective circuits. Circuits initiated requests for visits by evangelists who were
accountable to the Conference.
Second, local revivalist energies varied according to whether local revivals were
lay-led or conducted by ordained ministers. Lay-led local revivals predominated in
the period by a ratio of 3:1 over the ordained-led revival, and produced 3.2 times the
55
Conversion figures provided at Appendix 1.
David Hempton and Myrtle Hill, ‘Born to Serve: Women and Evangelical Religion’, in Alan Hayes
and Dianne Urquhart, eds., The Irish Women’s History Reader (London: Routledge, 2001), 119.
56
183
number of converts.57
Third, country revival activity tended to occur in the cooler late autumn and
winter months following completion of harvest preparation, and before the summer
harvest. The pattern also occurred in the city as the hot summer months from
December to February inhibited mass gatherings and coincided with the traditional
holiday season. The adoption of the cooler mid-year period for revival meetings
commenced from the mid-nineteenth century, once farming and grain production
transitioned from northern to southern hemisphere climatic conditions. For many
Methodists, revivals were not so much spontaneous and extraordinary acts of divine
visitations, but yearly routines of conversion and rejuvenation, fixtures on the circuit
calendar and prayer diaries of the pious and committed. This is not to suggest that all
revivals were of the same kind. The Burra revivals from 1858 to 1860 and Moonta in
1875 were unusual for their spontaneity and community impact. What we can say,
however, is that the more numerous, planned, mid-year, cyclical, winter revivals,
together with the few and more spontaneous events, provides a more complete
understanding of evangelical revitalisation. The former’s rhythm and repeated impact
and influence on churches, communities, and culture, is overshadowed by the latter’s
historical pre-eminence. The ritualised spirituality of the local seasonal revival added
to the social and religious fabric of towns and regions, and enhanced Methodist ‘vital
religion’. Evangelical Methodism, far from the sacramental ritualism of Anglicanism
and Catholicism, found its own popular ritualism embedded in revivals alongside of
harvest festivals, love feasts, camp meetings, and watch nights.
Fourth, revivals were of limited duration, usually from one to three weeks. Short
terms favoured local communities, many of which only possessed limited resources
to sustain a visiting revivalist. In addition, farmers and rural workers had limited time
available to devote to sustaining revivals because they needed to maintain normal
occupations.
Conclusion
In the fifteen-years before the First World War, South Australian Methodism
57
See the beginning of this chapter for the actual figures.
184
embraced the employment of lay evangelists as a complementary agency to the work
of the circuit-focussed itinerant ordained ministry. They operated as short-term
itinerants in mainly rural areas, obtained numerous conversions, and thereby
contributed to an expansionist and confident Methodism. In doing so, they blurred
the boundaries between ordained and lay revivalist leadership. They adopted some of
the practices of the international revivalist and were most effective in areas usually
by-passed by the overseas visitor. They contributed to the maintenance of a
conversionary ethos within Methodism, by preaching for conversion and avoiding
the contentious issues of ‘higher criticism’ Biblical authority, modernism, and
evolution.58
The generally well-received and proficient women evangelists did not openly
challenge the widespread and accepted patterns of gender differentiation either
within or outside the church. 59 Known for their soul-saving ability and evangelistic
zeal, they also contributed, by their visibility and ability, to the aspirational hopes of
young and independent women beyond that of home and family. By the time of the
First World War, Methodism had become more inclusive in its revivalist functioning,
willing to use men and women evangelists, ordained and lay, trained and untrained,
circuit and non-circuit, in its quest for ‘vital religion’. Collectively, they advanced
the democratisation of revivalism.
58
One exception was Dr. W. G. Torr, who because of his background, education, and standing within
the denomination, could comment on these and other ‘controversial’ topics. He was influential in
mediating a traditional evangelical doctrinal emphasis ‘with openness to the literary, textual, and
historical study of the Bible, when these were controversial issues within Methodist circles’. See
Arnold D. Hunt, ‘Torr, William George (1853-1939)’, ADEB, 376.
59
Absence of challenge to gender differentiation accords with Hempton, Methodism: Empire of the
Spirit, 140.
185
CHAPTER 8
MISSIONS, CONVENTIONS, AND MORE MISSIONS
1902 – 1912
A resolution passed by the South Australia Methodist Conference in February
1902, called for:
A quickened spiritual life in the Church, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost,
realised by all our ministers, local preachers, class leaders, and Sunday
school teachers, as essential conditions for permanent revival.1
At a quarterly meeting held by church officials at Kadina in June 1902, several
members spoke about some hopeful signs of ‘awakening’. One in particular, ‘felt
sure that a revival was at hand’.2 Church officials sought to identify the conditions
for revival and expected to see signs of its coming. This chapter examines three of
the larger missions held in South Australia between 1902 and 1912, considered by
some as revivals. We shall also examine the impact of the 1904-1905 Welsh Revival,
and how the call for a ‘quickened spiritual life’ resulted in a renewed interest in
holding ‘deeper life’ conventions.
The most significant of the international revivalists to visit South Australia in the
years before the First World War were W. Edgar Geil, Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman and
Charles M. Alexander. Chapman and Alexander in particular, followed in the
tradition of Dwight L. Moody and Ira D. Sankey, who demonstrated in their 18731875 tour of Britain the ability to attract large crowds, and popularised the use of
substantial and accessible public venues. They utilised massed choirs, gathered
impressive numbers of converts, melded ‘sermon with song’ and had the support of
churches through interdenominational representation on organising committees.3
Moody’s presentation of the gospel ‘was less exacting than that of Jonathan Edwards
and John Wesley, and preaching more palatable; more entertaining and simpler’.4 His
meetings, considered by some to be a ‘model of middle-class respectability and
1
ACC, 7 March 1902, 12.
ACC, 18 July 1902, 6.
3
Jackson, Churches and People in Australia and New Zealand 1860-1930, 57.
4
Piggin, Spirit, Word and World, 58.
2
186
religious order’, possessed commercial and business characteristics more in tune with
urban and industrial communities.5 Reuben Archer Torrey took over Moody’s
campaign in 1899, and teamed with Charles Alexander for their tour of Australia’s
eastern states in 1902. Together, they refined Moody’s methods, with additional
emphasis on simultaneous meetings that required the widespread support of
churches. The Melbourne Mission, referred to by international reports as ‘the
Melbourne Revival’, attracted a quarter of a million attendances each week for the
four weeks of the mission.6 South Australian Methodists read with interest
newspaper reports of the Melbourne Mission, as they anticipated the visit of the
‘aggressive’ American evangelist, W. Edgar Geil.7
W. Edgar Geil – Simultaneous Mission – 1902
Torrey and Alexander did not visit Adelaide in 1902. The mission was entrusted
to Geil, who was part of the Torrey-Alexander team. The ‘Simultaneous Mission’,
conducted by Geil and various missioners lasted from 8-20 June 1902. They targeted
the suburbs, utilising churches and community buildings. During the mission’s first
week, ministers and evangelists from participating churches conducted thirty gospel
meetings held within eight kilometres of the General Post Office. Many of these took
place simultaneously.8 Geil spoke at mass meetings of up to 5,000 held at the Port
Adelaide wool stores in the first week. Crowded evening meetings at the Exhibition
Building and midday meetings for men at the Town Hall featured during the second
week.9 Geil was often criticised for his choice of unusual and laughter-generating
pithy quips, considered by some to be ‘extravagant’ and ‘grotesque’, whilst others
appreciated a lack of ‘pulpit style’ and ‘holy tone’ in order to speak with conviction
5
Janice Holmes, Religious Revivals in Britain and Ireland, 1859 – 1905 (Dublin: Irish Academic
Press, 2000), 55.
6
Darrell Paproth, ‘Revivalism in Melbourne from Federation to World War I: the Torrey-Alexander –
Chapman Campaigns’ in Mark Hutchinson and Stuart Piggin, eds., Reviving Australia (Sydney:
Centre for the Study of Australian Christianity, 1994), 143-169. J. Edwin Orr situates the 1902
Torrey-Alexander Mission in the context of ‘The Australasian Awakening’ which he contends had its
beginnings in 1889 when the Rev. John MacNeil and other ministers began to pray for revival
throughout Australia. See Edwin Orr, Evangelical Awakenings in the South Seas, 105. On the
Melbourne Torrey and Alexander mission, see Will Renshaw, Marvellous Melbourne and Spiritual
Power (Moreland , VIC: Acorn Press, 2014), 42-49.
7
See for example ACC, 2 May 1902, 9; 30 May 1909, 9; Register, 27 May 1902, 6; Herald, 10 May
1902, 10.
8
Herald, 10 May 1902, 10.
9
See Appendix 1 for numerous Methodist and secular press references.
187
to all kinds of people.10 Clearly, the sermon was not only to inform, but to entertain
as well. A large follow-up meeting for new converts held at Pirie Street Methodist
Church counselled them on disciplines such as prayer and Bible reading, considered
essential for the maintenance of Christian piety.11 One of the results of the mission
was a continuation of united services in the city and suburbs, but without the
attraction of an internationally known evangelist, only a few meetings resulted. Of
significance, was a two-week ‘simultaneous mission’ at Gumeracha in August 1902
which involved the local Methodist and Baptist churches and resulted in 70
conversions. This was followed by a two-week mission at Mount Gambier which
included the Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, and Salvation Army churches.
Conversions took place at each nightly meeting; the event was deemed ‘a great
religious awakening’.12
The Geil mission had little apparent impact on Methodist membership in South
Australia, which increased by 285 in 1902. Conversion figures for the mission are
not available, whereas local missions conducted throughout the state reported 282
conversions.13 Many of these would account for the overall increase in Methodist
membership, leaving few possible membership additions as a result of the Geil
mission.
Nonetheless, the big crowds attracted to the Adelaide mission suggest that the
mission-goers approved of such events; a collective display of impressive
evangelical Protestant unity and organisation. For the previous twenty-five years,
reports of the successive Moody and Sankey missions in Britain and America were
regular features in the Adelaide Methodist papers and secular press. The revivalist
tendencies which accompanied the visits of Matthew Burnett (1880-1883), Margaret
Hampson (1883), R. T. Booth and his Gospel Temperance Mission (1886), Thomas
Cook (1894), Rodney (Gipsy Smith) (1894), C. H. Yatman (1899), and now W.
Edgar Geil (1902), were but a foretaste of a great and continuous revival always
10
See for example, Register, 10 June 1902, 6. An assessment of Geil’s methods is the subject of the
editorial in the ACC, 20 June 1902, 8-9. The editor considered that the ‘extravagance’ and
‘grotesqueness’ of some of Geil’s statements helped to break down prejudice and communicate truth
11
Register, 1 July 1902, 6.
12
See Appendix 1. ACC, 29 August 1902, 4; 12 September 1902, 13.
13
Membership and conversion figures from Appendix 2.
188
hoped for but never realised.
Transference of Revivalism
Early in 1905, welcome news of revival stirrings in Wales arrived. The editor of
the Australian Christian Commonwealth claimed that ‘nothing like it has been
experienced since the Methodist revival of the eighteenth century…70,000 converts.
Almost every part of Wales is under its mighty spell’. Articles from British sources
appeared with detailed descriptions and comment on the revival, supplemented by
reports of Torrey and Alexander’s Liverpool Mission, and the work of soul-saving by
Geil. The President of the South Australia Methodist Conference and other ministers
provided local comment. Of one mind, they declared; ‘we want just such a work’.14
A mood of optimism pervaded the 1905 Conference. It was time for ‘aggressive
evangelism’ to take advantage of the ‘new spiritual receptivity’, and to ‘pray and
organise for the coming revival’, asserted the editor of the Methodist weekly paper.15
An article entitled, ‘An Australasian Revival’ sought to answer the question, ‘Will
the revival in Wales spread to England, and from there across the ocean to
Australia?’ Another narrated the individual experiences of some who had been
caught up in the revival of ‘a nation under the awe of invisible things’.16 A column
headed ‘Revival Intelligence’, grouped sources of revival news from Wales,
England, and the United States: accounts of thousands converted, special revival
services, shops and businesses closed for prayer meetings. Expectancy for revival
grew as the reports multiplied; the sense of urgency was sharpened by statements of
impending arrival, ‘Surely it will not be long before these showers of blessing visit
us here in Australia’.17 Furthermore, the Adelaide Register and Advertiser provided
extended coverage to a wider audience, and joined the clarion call of the prorevivalists: ‘Why Not a South Australian Revival?’18
Revival intelligence and narratives of conviction and experience transmitted from
14
ACC, 3 February 1905, 8-9; 24 February 1905, 3-5, 8-12.
ACC, 17 March 1905, 8.
16
ACC, 31 March 1905, 13; 7 April 1905, 5.
17
ACC, 19 May 1905, 9.
18
For examples of coverage, see Register, 28 January 1905, 7; 8 February 1905, 5; Advertiser, 2
February 1905, 7; 4 February 1905, 6. The article entitled, ‘Why Not A South Australian Revival?’
based on a letter to the editor by ‘Practical’ is in the Register, 16 February 1905, 6.
15
189
Wales to South Australia established a sense of connection between the two places.
The reports enabled readers to be familiar with the revival’s progress, impact, and
extent, and this boosted their hopes of a similar event in South Australia. If a revival
transported itself in one age, as occurred in the experience of Jonathan Edwards and
the Northampton revival of 1735, perhaps it could in another. Edwards recounts an
occasion when a colleague (Mr. Lord) experienced a revival in his own church
following a visit to see the revival taking place under Edward’s leadership:
Rev. Mr Lord, the minister there; who, with the Rev Mr Owen of Groton,
came up hither in May [1735] on purpose to see the work of God. Having
heard various and contradictory accounts of it, they were careful when there
to satisfy themselves; and to that end particularly conversed with many of
our people; which they declared to be entirely to their satisfaction; and that
the one half had not been told them, nor could be told them. Mr Lord told
me that, when he got home, he informed his congregation of what he had
seen, and that they were greatly affected with it; and that it proved the
beginning of the same work amongst them, which prevailed till there was a
general awakening, and many instances of persons who seemed to be
remarkably converted.19
Ministers in Australia knew of revivals that had transferred from one location to
another, and in South Australia were familiar with the Burra and Central Hill
Country revivals from 1858 to 1860. The popular and theologically acceptable Welsh
revival narratives of 1904-1905, built on a tradition of shared intelligence, raised
hopes for the beginnings of an Australian revival.20 The distribution of information
did not guarantee the start of a revival, but the print and oral connections between
19
Jonathan Edwards, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 4, The Great Awakening, Clarence C.
Goen, ed., (New Haven & London:, Yale University Press, 1972), 155. The Presbyterian minister, the
Rev. Archibald N. Mackray of Sydney claimed the Northhampton Revival of 1735 was ‘widely
known’ through the ‘Narrative’. See Archibald N. Mackray, Revivals of Religion (Sydney: John L.
Sherriff, 1870), 10. Mackray also considered that the dissemination of revival intelligence was one of
three agencies available for the promotion of revivals, in order that ‘the sympathetic acquaintance
with the work of God throughout the world, and to an earnest determination, in faith and prayer, to
have the same marvels vouchsafed to others’. See p. 29.
20
Robert Davies Smart, Apologetic For The Great Awakening (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation
Heritage Books, 2011), 16-17. Smart contends that the early Methodist leaders such as George
Whitefield had in their possession Jonathan Edwards’s A Faithful Narrative, and that its publication
coincided with the Welsh Revival of 1739. Furthermore, according to Smart, ‘Whitefield intentionally
linked his evangelistic success in the years 1737-1739 to Edwards’s revival narrative. By the 1740s,
transatlantic interconnections of literature and personnel promoted revivalist activity between Britain
and the American colonies. Harry Stout sees Whitefield’s itinerant ministry as internationally
focussed, and mode of revivalism futuristically, as that which would ‘transcend media and embrace
television and characterize evangelicalism into the twentieth century’. ‘George Whitefield in Three
Countries’, in Mark A. Noll, David W. Bebbington, George A. Rawlyk, eds., Evangelicalism (New
York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994), 69.
190
participants and observers of revivals in other locations fashioned perceptions and
knowledge of revival activity elsewhere.21 The prevailing tendencies of revivalist
connections, well established since the 1850s throughout the evangelical Diaspora,22
assisted to promote and sustain South Australian Methodism’s quest for revival
activity.
Deepening the Spiritual Life
By the middle of 1905, the editor of the Australian Christian Commonwealth
called for Methodists to develop a ‘deepened religious life’ and ‘profounder spiritual
consciousness’ to hasten the ‘coming revival’. 23 ‘Conventions for the deepening of
the spiritual life’, accompanied by special prayer, were held in some city and
suburban circuits. Often led by the circuit superintendent, the meetings spanned a
day and evening, with the public invited to the afternoon and evening sessions.24
Ministers attended the morning sessions. The meeting held at the Unley Methodist
Church on 19 July 1905 included an afternoon address by Lady Holder, an evening
march led by the Central Mission band followed by an open-air meeting. It was
hoped that these ‘conventions’ would bring a ‘widespread revival of God’s work’.25
A ‘Pentecostal Convention’ at Brompton in June 1905 gathered Methodist
ministers and others interested in understanding and promoting revivals. The
convention featured topics such as: the Holy Spirit, ‘How to Promote a Revival’,
‘How to Conserve the Results of a Revival’, and included evangelical ministers such
as W. Shaw, W. H. Cann, J. Pearce and T. B. Angwin. A ‘prince of the pulpit’, the
Rev. Henry Howard of Pirie Street Methodist Church, delivered a ‘powerful address’
that resulted in six conversions.26
The link between revival and a deeper spiritual life was a consistent theme within
21
Susan O’Brien, ‘A Transatlantic Community of Saints: The Great Awakening and the First
Evangelical Network, 1735-1755’, American Historical Review 91, no. 4 (October 1986): 811-832, at
832.
22
Bebbington, The Dominance of Evangelicalism, 2005, 76.
23
Editorial, ACC, 30 June 1905, 9.
24
See for example, ACC, 14 July 1905, 12; 21 July 1905, 12; 25 August 1905, 9.
25
ACC, 14 July 1905, 12.
26
ACC, 8 June 1906, 13; Advertiser, 5 June 1906, 8. For Howard as ‘a prince of the pulpit’, see Hunt,
This Side of Heaven, 247.
191
South Australian Methodism. In 1840-1841, it featured as part of the second
recorded revival experienced by Methodism in the colony.27 South Australian
Baptists also explored the relationship between the inner life of the believer and
revivalism.
As early as 1869, two leading South Australian Baptist ministers taught on
holiness and revival. The Rev. Silas Mead, influenced by the American holiness
teacher, Robert Pearsall Smith, promoted holiness teaching in Adelaide, whilst the
Rev. John Price at Moonta, himself a proponent of holiness by faith since 1869,
linked holiness with revival.28 During the Moonta Revival of 1875, Price exhorted
his heartfelt belief that, ‘No church need wait for a “Revival”. There is just one key
by which any church can open heaven’s treasures in that respect. That key is
consecration’.29 For Price, its acquisition was more by quiet dependent faith, in
contrast to the exuberant exertion and crisis often expected of Methodists wrestling
with entire sanctification during times of revivalist fervour.30 Bebbington notes how
teaching on holiness in both the Baptist and Bible Christian churches helped to
expedite the revival.31
By the 1880s, all branches of Methodism engaged in the holding of Conventions
for deepening the spiritual life. A typical event was a Bible Christian district
‘convention for deepening the spiritual life among members and promoting the work
of revival’, held on 20 June 1889. The Rev. R. Lang outlined the disciplines
necessary to develop and maintain a ‘close fellowship with God’, essential for a
deeper spiritual life. Holiness was marked by purity of thought and conduct. The
necessary disciplines included Bible reading, private and family prayer, and
manifesting love toward others. The Rev. J. Thorne emphasised that a deepened
spiritual life, made possible by the working of the Holy Spirit, enabled believers to
help their neighbours. According to Thorne, ‘a church with every member fully alive
to God would mean the speedy conversion of the world’.32 Revival activity was
27
See Chapter 1.
Truth and Progress, August 1874, 90-91. Letters from Robert Pearsall Smith to Silas Mead.
29
Truth and Progress, July 1875, 74.
30
Bebbington, Victorian Religious Revivals, 101, 224.
31
Bebbington, Victorian Religious Revivals, 224.
32
SABCMag, August 1889, 127-132.
28
192
therefore dependent on the faithful deepening the spiritual life. The interdependent
nature of holiness and revival meant that revival included both the reawakening of
the righteous and the conversion of the unrighteous.
By late 1905, a similar expectation within Methodism failed to produce the
desired result. It seemed as though holiness-revivalism had fallen from favour and
that ‘vital religion’, with personal holiness as the catalyst, proved difficult to sustain.
Thereafter, hopes of revival with holiness conventions for churchgoers as the chief
instrument faded from Methodist revivalism. By early 1909, spirits lifted as attention
began to focus on the forthcoming Chapman-Alexander mission. Perhaps what the
distant Welsh Revival could not deliver to the antipodes, the Americans Chapman
and Alexander, by their visit to South Australia, would deliver.
Chapman and Alexander Mission – 1909
By the time Chapman and Alexander arrived in Adelaide in July 1909, as part of
their Australasian tour, seven years had elapsed since W. Edgar Geil, a member of
the Torrey-Alexander team, had conducted simultaneous missions in the city and
suburbs. The Geil-led events of 1902 produced a few converts and maintained the
revivalist fervour among evangelicals. The Methodists, in particular, were keen to
maintain their foremost place among evangelical and overtly conversionist agencies.
The Welsh Revival of 1905, although it failed to reproduce a legitimate offspring in
Australia, continued to burden the faithful with hopes for a national revival of
religion that would greatly multiply the number of converts, membership additions,
and bolster the fortunes of institutional Methodism.33 Methodists had long held that
the key to the reformation of society was through the regeneration of the soul;
convert the individual, to ‘bring the soul into most intimate fellowship with our
Lord’, and societal transformation would follow.34 The conversionist emphasis
within the Chapman-Alexander missions suited evangelical Methodism in its quest to
maintain ‘vital religion’. The significant contribution of the laity, particularly in
33
Conversation on the ‘Work of God’ at the 1909 Conference referred to the maintenance of the
church’s programs and facilities as well as ‘spiritual blessings’. Furthermore, Conference urged
members to ‘a regular attendance at the New Testament ordinances’. These included prayer, Christian
fellowship, and spiritual worship. See ACC, 5 March 1909, 5; 30 April 1909, 8-9.
34
ACC, 30 April 1909, 9.
193
1907; the renewed emphasis on the revivalism-holiness nexus as a precursor to
revival; and a glowing endorsement of the pair’s successful Boston mission, further
prepared the ground for the first Chapman-Alexander mission of 1909.35
Their visit
to Adelaide was part of their Australian tour, and was preceded by missions in
Melbourne, Brisbane, and Sydney.36 Included in the mission party of fourteen, was
Robert Harkness, the Australian pianist and composer who was ‘led to Christ’ by
Alexander during the Torrey-Alexander campaign of 1902.37 The mission party
arrived by the over-night train from Melbourne on 15 July 1909.
Within days of the mission’s commencement on 16 July 1909, the Australian
Christian Commonwealth proclaimed that after years of longing for the ‘coming
revival’, it had now begun, initiated by the persuasive preaching of Chapman and
‘music’s mystic ministry’ of Alexander.38 At the mission’s conclusion, Chapman
himself provided a more detached assessment, preferring the modest proclamation: ‘I
believe Australia is ripe for revival’.39
By the time of their Adelaide mission in 1909, Chapman and Alexander were at
the peak of their popularity within American Protestantism.40 Chapman had been
converted under Moody’s ministry in 1878. A graduate of the Presbyterian Lane
Theological Seminary, Chapman undertook pastorates in important New York and
Philadelphia churches, before commencing full-time evangelistic work throughout
America in 1902. In 1904, he founded Winona Bible Conference, a ten-day summer
assembly held at Winona Lake, Indiana, where thousands of missionaries and
evangelists gathered annually. He taught the importance of holiness, and was
described by the Methodist church paper as ‘the most persuasive speaker heard, at
least for a generation, on this continent’.41 In 1908, Alexander teamed up with
Chapman and became, according to the Australian Christian Commonwealth, ‘the
35
Dr. Francis E. Clark, founder of Christian Endeavour, attended the Boston mission and sent a letter
of endorsement. See Register, 3 April 1909, 13.
36
ACC, 23 July 1909, 9.
37
ACC, 23 July 1909, 10.
38
ACC, 23 July 1909, 9.
39
ACC, 30 July 1909, 1. Chapman-Alexander Mission Number.
40
This paragraph is based on Hilliard’s, Popular Revivalism, 20-21.
41
ACC, 23 July 1909, 9.
194
most famous Gospel singer living’.42 During a mission tour in England, he met and
later married Helen Cadbury, daughter of the well-known philanthropist and cocoa
millionaire, Richard Cadbury of Birmingham. Prior to their arrival in Australia in
1909, Chapman and Alexander had led a successful three-week mission in Boston,
which attracted an attendance of almost three-quarters of a million.
In Adelaide, intense preparations preceded the arrival of Chapman and
Alexander. After five weeks of home meetings, which commenced in the first week
of June 1909, a twelve-day Simultaneous Mission led by local ministers, a five-day
mission led by the evangelist the Rev. Ford C. Ottman, accompanied by gospel
singer Frank Dickson, Adelaide welcomed Chapman and Alexander on 16 July for
their ten-day mission. The main evening meetings were held at the Exhibition
Building, where average attendance each night was 7,000. The businessmen’s
meetings were held at Victoria Hall. 43 With a population of 140,000, Adelaide
recorded an aggregate attendance of 144,000 over the twelve days of the mission.44 It
was an enthusiastic response to the well-prepared and organised Americans. An
estimated 800 conversions resulted from the mission. The figure was tabulated from
the ‘decision cards’ made available at the meetings; some of them were already
church members.45 In an effort to conserve the results of the mission, local ministers
undertook follow- up interviews, and two follow-up meetings were held, which
included testimonies, the singing of Alexander’s songs, and talks on aspects of the
faith by church leaders. At the second follow-up meeting, held one month after the
first, some 800 converts attended, an almost 100 per cent retention rate. Of these,
probably half were Methodists.46 What was the effect of these ‘decisions’ on
Methodist church membership?
42
ACC, 23 July 1909, 10.
For a more extended account of the 1909 and 1912 Chapman-Alexander missions, see Hilliard,
Popular Revivalism, 20-25. See also Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 268-271. For an account of the 1909
Australasian tour from the perspective of the mission party, see Helen C. Alexander and J. Kennedy
MacLean, Charles M. Alexander: A Romance of Song and Soul-Winning (Murfreesboro, Tennessee:
Sword of the Lord Publishers, 1920), 152-162. An account comprising mainly a series of articles that
appeared in the Register was published as, The Big Mission in Adelaide conducted by the ChapmanAlexander Mission Party (Adelaide, 1909). See Register, 20 July 1909, 6.
44
Paproth, ‘Revivalism in Melbourne from Federation to World War I: the Torrey-AlexanderChapman Campaigns’, 155.
45
Advertiser, 31 July 1909, 11.
46
Advertiser, 31 July 1909, 11; Register, 1 September 1909, 5.
43
195
Membership increased in South Australia from 17,322 in 1908 to 18,393 in 1909,
an increase of 1,071. As there were only 71 converts from three country missions
conducted by Dr. W. G. Torr and the Barrett Brothers, the majority of new church
members came from the Chapman-Alexander Mission. There may have been under
reporting of the number of mission ‘decisions’ – a factor hinted at in a post-mission
report.47 Clearly, Methodist revivalist and evangelical interest in the mission
benefited the Methodist Church in particular. Many Methodists were no doubt
bolstered by belief in Chapman’s doctrinal statement at the beginning of the mission:
I believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God and the Saviour of the world. I
believe in the Bible right through. I believe that men must be born again. If I
did not hold this creed, I could not do this work.48
It was affirmation of a biblical worldview and form of religion standing against
higher criticism and a weakened belief in biblical inspiration. For those affected by
such perils as ‘the ebbing tide of faith’, the ‘growing arrogance of materialism’,
‘rationalism’, ‘indifferentism’, ‘spiritual poverty’, and ‘religious failure’, the visit
was tantamount to the long-awaited revival.49 However, for those with little or no
contact with any church, there was minimal impact. Chapman himself lamented that
there was little response from the ‘irreligious’. He acknowledged instead the
beneficial impact upon churchgoers through a deepened spirituality, a more intense
‘passion for souls’, and a ‘clearer vision of the cross’.50 This was a realistic
assessment, given the response by local ministers from meetings with their members
on 21 July, the first ‘Church Day’ during the mission. The reaction of Henry Howard
(1859-1933), of Pirie Street Methodist Church, was typical of the respondents:
The Rev. Henry Howard said he had got the shock of his life, and his
unbelief had vanished. He had expected half a dozen or ten, and there were
over 100 in his church. A gratifying feature of the service had been the
pledging of everybody to stand by the minister.51
See Appendix 2 for membership and conversion figures. Under reporting at Advertiser, 31 July
1909, 11.
48
ACC, 30 July 1909, 1.
49
ACC, 23 July 1909, 9.
50
ACC, 30 July 1909, 1.
51
ACC, 30 July 1909, 2. Henry Howard was at Pirie Street Methodist Church from 1902 to 1921.
Crowds of up to 1,000 heard him preach on Sunday evenings. A liberal evangelical, Howard was
chairman of the executive committee for the second Chapman-Alexander mission in 1912. He
47
196
Similar reports from eight other ministers underscored the sense of spiritual
solidarity and communal transformation engendered among Adelaide’s evangelicals.
The proponents of ‘old-time’ religion were delighted.
Why was there an enthusiastic response to the mission? First, each of the
meetings concluded with a call to make ‘a decision for Christ’. This focussed the
meetings in the direction of the evangelistic goal – conversion of the sinner. A solo
sung by Alexander at the conclusion of the sermon, as was his regular practice,
reinforced the call.52
Second, the persuasive, eloquent, and clear presentations of the gospel message
appealed to those in need of religious certainty, and to those who wanted a fixed and
unchanging religion. Chapman’s messages contrasted the ‘awfulness of sin’ with the
‘magnificence of grace’, in the oft-repeated formula of ‘repent, believe, confess and
obey’.53 One of the core evangelical doctrines was the substitutionary atonement –
the death of Jesus through the shedding of his blood was a sacrifice for human sin.
Third, the musical component of the meetings, under the direction of Charles
Alexander, was, according to Chapman, of such benefit as to make the task of
preaching much easier. Alexander, with a warm and engaging smile, prepared the
hearers for Chapman in such a way as to entertain and maintain interest. His smooth
and well-modulated tenor voice and his ability to engage different sections of the
audience with various verses of the same song engendered a warm, inclusive and
merry atmosphere. The use of repetition and informal light-hearted instruction
produced likeable competition: ‘Now, there shall be showers of blessing…Every
man and boy in the gallery sing that chorus…Good, again…Ladies up top, sing the
second verse…Sing and mean it ladies… Men downstairs, sing it…Now you
newspaper lads down below…All sing’.54 Songs as sentimental anecdotes in
accepted a call to the Wesleyan Church in Hampstead, England in 1921. In 1926, Howard was invited
to the prestigious Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York. See Arnold D. Hunt, ‘Howard,
Henry (1859-1933)’, ADEB, 175; ACC, 7 July 1933, 3.
52
Bryan D. Gilling, ‘Almost Persuaded Now to Believe: Gospel Songs in New Zealand Evangelical
Theology and Practice’, Journal of Religious History 19, no. 1 (June 1995): 95.
53
ACC, 23 July 1909, 10.
54
Register, 16 July 1909, 9. One of the songs in Alexander’s Hymns, entitled ‘Never Lose Sight of
Jesus’, written by the Australian pianist and composer of over 500 hymns, Robert Harkness, a
member of the 1909 tour, was sung on one occasion over 200 times at one of Evan Roberts’s meetings
197
revivalist settings tended to replace hymns teaching doctrine. 55
Thus, rather than explore the theology invoked, Alexander’s songs focussed
instead on the beneficial application of the doctrine to the faithful. This can be seen
in the popular song, There’s Power in the Blood, which highlighted benefits for the
believer such as freedom ‘from your passion and pride’, and in a converted state,
‘whiter, much whiter than snow’. Implied in the song was the effectual nature of the
substitutionary aspect of Christ’s death for the sinner.56 In similar fashion, another
song, He Will Hold Me Fast, made popular in the 1909 mission and sung during the
1912 mission with emphasis on chorus repetition, accentuated the benefit of being
‘held’ securely by Christ .57 The one-line reference, ‘Bought by Him at such a cost’,
a reference to the ransom nature of Christ’s death, was almost hidden beneath the
benefit to the believer.58
When Chapman ascended the podium, he found a receptive and eager audience.
The use of songs as sermons, sung many times over, aided the memory, whereas the
spoken sermon had but a short-term effect.59 This strategy avoided the intellectual
challenges posed by the growth of religious liberalism, and re-interpreted theology in
the light of using music as an evangelistic tool. Choruses from Alexander’s Hymns
such as ‘Saved by Grace’, ‘Whosoever will may come’ and ‘When God forgives, He
forgets’, conveyed theological content and helped to shape the evangelistic
response.60 They were easy to sing. John Kent has suggested that this use of music,
popularised by Moody as part of the new revivalist genre, meant that audiences
‘were able to accept uncritically in a sentimental musical form what they would have
during the Welsh Revival. See Register, 20 July 1909, 6.
55
This tendency is identified in Sandra Sizer, Gospel Hymns and Social Religion: The Rhetoric of
Nineteenth-Century Revivalism (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1978).
56
Gilling, ‘Almost Persuaded Now to Believe’, 97. Alexander’s Hymns No. 3 With Standard Hymns
as used in the Chapman-Alexander Mission (London: Marshall, Morgan and Scott, n.d.), Hymn No.
169, ‘There’s Power in the Blood’.
57
ACC, 24 May 1912, 9; Alexander’s Hymns No 3, Hymn No. 1.
58
Jesus saw his death as constituting a ransom. Without specifying to whom the ransom was to be
paid, or from whose control the enslaved were to be freed, Jesus indicated that the giving of his life,
was the means by which many would be freed from bondage. See Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45.
59
Hilliard, Popular Revivalism, 23.
60
Alexander’s Hymns No. 3. During the Adelaide Mission, Alexander called it the ‘Red Book’ (no
doubt because of its colour). See Register, 16 July 1909, 9.
198
hesitated to accept in the clearer form of the sermon’.61
At the very least, the 1909 mission was an example of urban entrepreneurial
American mass revivalism – made acceptable to a clientele more in tune with British
conservatism than the excesses of raw frontier revivalism. It appealed particularly to
business and city-workers, because it was organised in a business-like and efficient
manner.62 At most, it was a short-term urban revival that triggered a much-needed
injection of spiritual fervour, emphasised personal regeneration, increased
membership in the Methodist Church by almost six per cent, and strengthened the
city-wide evangelical sub-culture.
Between the end of the Chapman and Alexander Mission of 1909 and their return
in 1912, the Methodist Church undertook ten evangelistic missions in country areas;
all produced converts. There were no comparable missions held in the city or
suburban areas.63 The trend toward the dominance of country revivalism became
well established in the early 1890s with the increased use of lay evangelists. This
trend continued in the first decade of the twentieth-century. By 1912, the editor of
the Australian Christian Commonwealth acknowledged that the Methodist Church in
the city and suburbs had not kept up with population growth.64 Methodists were
concerned.
Chapman and Alexander Mission – 1912
The Chapman and Alexander visit to South Australia from 19 May to 3 July
1912, was part of an Australasian campaign that included New Zealand. It was
organised through a national council, inclusive of state representatives with an
executive located in Melbourne.65 The mission party stayed longer in South Australia
than in 1909 – for six and a half weeks. Meetings were held both in Adelaide, and in
the main regional centres of Petersburg, Broken Hill, Port Pirie, Mount Gambier, and
Kent, Holding The Fort, 34.
ACC, 23 July 1909, 10.
63
See Appendices 1 and 2 for the years 1909-1912.
64
‘Methodist Extension’ in the country and city of Adelaide was the subject of an editorial in the
ACC, 16 August 1912, 3. The article raised the issue rather than address it.
65
W. H. Fitchett, Chapman-Alexander Mission Australasian Executive, Eleven Months in Australasia
1912-13: The Chapman-Alexander Mission (Melbourne: Australasian Executive, Chapman-Alexander
Evangelistic Mission, 1913), 5.
61
62
199
Bordertown. The South Australian mission focussed on Adelaide (three weeks), with
almost 2,000 decisions recorded overall. Of these, about half took place in
Adelaide.66
The statistics of the Adelaide campaign are impressive. Twelve hundred
choristers from different churches were trained, organised, and conducted by Mr. W.
Knill before the mission started.67 The choir averaged 700 singers each night during
the mission. 68 Crowds of up to 10,000 filled the Exhibition Building on two
occasions, while the evening meetings attracted from 5,000 to 7,000. There were
men’s meetings of some 6,000 on the two Sunday afternoons, of whom one-half
were said to be non-churchgoers; 3,000 at the ‘old folks’ day meeting; and 2,000 at
one of the ‘ladies meetings’ held in the Town Hall.69
The mission’s format was the same as in 1909: careful and thorough preparation,
business-like execution, support of most churches, and prayer. As president of the
Adelaide organising committee, the Rev. Henry Howard stressed the importance of
spiritual preparation in his welcome speech to the mission party:
I would say to Dr. Chapman, it is because this city of Adelaide can present
you with an atmosphere charged with spiritual oxygen and a field richly
sown with spiritual seed – because for years godly men and saintly women
have toiled and wept and prayed, sowing beside all waters, and dying, many
of them, without the sight of harvest, that all the churches of this city
welcome you with outstretched hands and expectant hearts. It is a great
moment, which under God will carry the work of years to a finish in
thousands of hearts, and crystallise a widespread conviction of sin into an
equally widespread decision for Christ. The love of all the churches meets
you and greets you on this the threshold of your work.70
Known for his commanding pulpit presence and powers of oratory, Howard’s
welcome was exceedingly generous. It also marked a change of mind, for three years
66
See Appendix 1. ACC, 5 July 1912, 17.
W. Knill was associated with the Highbury Street Prospect Methodist Church since its foundation in
1864. Well known in Adelaide’s musical circles as a conductor of Sunday school anniversaries for
different churches, Christian Endeavour convention choirs, and the Adelaide Orpheus (Male) Society.
A keen cricketer and footballer, he represented both sports at local, district, and inter-colonial level.
See ACC, 3 May 1935, 4.
68
Register, 20 May 1912, 9.
69
ACC, 31 May 1912, 6, 11; 7 June 1912, 8; 5 July 1912, 17; Southern Baptist, 13 June 1912;
Register, 20 May 1912, 9.
70
Advertiser, 20 May 1912, 9.
67
200
earlier he had acknowledged publicly his reserve toward the 1909 mission.71 In some
ways, Howard summed up the heartfelt response of others, who also recalled fleeting
moments of the journey they too had taken through the spiritual landscape.
Once again, the Methodist Church supported the mission and benefited from the
conversion growth that resulted.72 Church membership increased from 19,262 in
1911 to 20,764 in1912. This was an increase of 1,502, the largest-ever recorded
annual increase in the history of South Australian Methodism.73 To what extent did
the Chapman-Alexander campaign contribute to this influx? At Methodism’s
Reception Day, held on 14 July 1912, 463 persons, either as converts from the
mission, or the annual Sunday school Decision Day, accepted membership.74 Three
days later, at a post-mission ‘Great Thanksgiving Rally’, the President of
Conference, W. H. Cann, acknowledged the reception into membership of these new
converts who represented thirty churches. The mood was cheerful and optimistic.
The mission choir led the hymn singing and a ‘patriotic hymn’, composed especially
for the occasion, was sung ‘as only Methodists can sing’. Inspirational speeches
called upon men in particular, to continue the evangelistic task, and offered ways to
conserve and extend the results of the mission. The Rev. Frank Lade urged those
who ‘enjoyed the mission and sung yourselves into a state of delirious ecstasy’ to refocus their lives on the ‘incomparable Christ’.75 South Australian Methodism
benefited from the reported 2,000 decision cards handed in during the mission. 76
After the mission, Methodism marshalled its forces for the next move forward.
Inspired by the Chapman-Alexander mission during 1912, there were ten other
Methodist evangelistic missions that year, all in rural areas. They were mainly layled and reported 374 converts.77 Many of these would have become Methodist
church members. In addition, the Churches of Christ hosted Dr. Charles R. Scoville
for a month’s evangelistic mission in August 1912, which produced 924 conversions.
In September 1912, the Churches of Christ reported a membership increase of 330,
71
Refer to footnote 52, this chapter.
Editorial, ‘The Mission – And After’, ACC, 14 June 1912, 3.
73
See Appendix 2 for membership figures.
74
ACC, 19 July 1912, 11. According to the source, this was an incomplete figure.
75
ACC, 26 July 1912, 8-9.
76
See Appendix 1.
77
See Appendix 2 for separate mission figures.
72
201
and 823 in 1913, its largest ever to that date. Once again, large crowds attended the
nightly meetings at the Exhibition Building and a 700-member choir led the singing.
It is likely that some of the Scoville converts became Methodist members.78
What we have so far, is that in 1912, according to the reported conversion
figures, at least one-third of the additions to Methodist Church membership resulted
from the Chapman-Alexander mission. It is likely, however, that the ratio was much
higher than one-third. If we assume that the Scoville mission produced 150 converts
who went on to become members of the Methodist Church, then the sum of all
reported conversions for 1912 accounts for about 1,000 of the 1,502 increase to
Methodist membership for that year. It is likely that the Chapman-Alexander mission
produced most of the 502 un-accounted for additions to Methodist membership in
1912. This is the most likely reason, as the Australian Christian Commonwealth
attributed the large increase in membership for 1912 to the Chapman-Alexander
mission and the ‘general spirit of revival which the mission generated’.79 The
American-led evangelical urban mission appealed to the middle-class respectability
and provenance of city and suburban Methodism.
While the figures for church membership and recorded conversions are generally
available, figures for converts ‘falling away’ are difficult to determine, for these are
more impressionistic and anecdotal. During the 1912 mission, Chapman claimed that
he had received 400 letters ‘from people who had obtained lasting help from his
1909 mission’. 80 Not all of those who remained steadfast in the faith would have
written a letter, so the actual rate was probably much higher. The view of Charles H.
Denison, one of Chapman’s associates with the mission party, claimed a retention
rate as high as 90 per cent ‘under Chapman-Alexander methods’.81
Conclusion
The Chapman-Alexander missions concluded the second period of revivalist
activity that commenced in 1865 with the visit of the Rev. William ‘California’
78
Advertiser, 5 August 1912, 12; 4 September 1912, 18; 6 September 1912, 12; 7 September 1912, 6;
17 September 1913, 18.
79
ACC, 14 November 1913, 11.
80
ACC, 14 June 1912, 8.
81
Register, 7 June 1912, 7.
202
Taylor, the first international revivalist to visit South Australia. The large-scale
evangelistic missions undertaken in the twelve years before the First World War
were the culmination of nearly half a century of mass revivalism in the Methodist
churches. It was the end of a period during which Methodists still valued the relative
importance of mass revivalism.
By 1912, South Australian Methodist mass revivalism stood clearly in the
American revivalist tradition. It was influenced by the methods of Charles G. Finney
disseminated through his Lectures on Revivals of Religion (1835), the visit of
William Taylor in 1865, the reports of D. L. Moody’s visit to Britain in the mid1870s, the simultaneous mission of W. Edgar Geil (1902), and continued through the
influence of J. Wilbur Chapman and Charles M. Alexander in their missions of 1909
and 1912. Mass revivalism, alongside of localised spiritual awakenings, enabled
Methodism to continue to differentiate itself from nominal forms of Christian
association. The essential characteristic of revival activity was instantaneous
conversion induced through preaching of the gospel. Revivalism functioned as a
standard of religious practice against which vital religion was measured and
sustained.
In the afterglow of the second Chapman-Alexander mission, the editor of the
Australian Christian Commonwealth urged his readers to maintain aggressive
evangelistic activity throughout the church, that activism was preferable to quietism,
as ‘continued watchfulness and ceaseless activity are the essentials of ultimate
triumph’. Victory, he said, was at the heart of the Methodist lexicon, to be pursued
relentlessly through sustained evangelism. The dualism of spiritual faith and the
world, the latter represented by the ‘powers of evil’, demanded the prosecution of
‘spiritual warfare’. There was little doubt in the editor’s mind that the mission could
be termed a ‘revival’; a mission may be ‘got up’, but there was enough indication
that the Spirit of God was present to ‘make of Methodism the power it once was’.
The editor’s manifesto went forth in the wake of the Chapman-Alexander mission.82
One who heard the call, was the Rev. Lionel B. Fletcher (1877-1954), a young
Congregational minister of Methodist upbringing in Port Adelaide, whom we shall
82
ACC, 14 June 1912, 3.
203
consider in the next chapter.83
83
Lionel B. Fletcher, Mighty Moments (London: Religious Tract Society, 1931), 43-48. Lionel
Fletcher was born at Maitland, New South Wales into a Methodist family. All eight sons became
preachers, three of them ordained as Methodists. His father was a lay preacher, grandfather a
missionary and preacher, and his great-grandfather also a preacher and personal friend of John
Wesley. He did not take up probationary studies in the Methodist Church as he was unable to support
himself financially, and later studied and was ordained to the Congregational ministry in Sydney. He
was called to Port Adelaide where he served from 1909 to 1915. Concerned for social well-being and
evangelism, he was prominent in the 1915 referendum in support of six o’clock closing. Greatly
affected by the Chapman-Alexander Mission of 1912, Fletcher introduced some of the mission’s
evangelistic practices into his own ministry. When he left Port Adelaide, it was the largest
Congregational church in Australia. Following a successful pastorate in Wales at Wood Street
Congregational Church, Cardiff, 1916-1922, Fletcher served in Auckland, New Zealand, where a
remarkable revival took place, and then as ‘Empire Evangelist’ for the Movement for World
Evangelisation until 1935. He then became evangelist for the National Council of Evangelical Free
Churches. He led evangelistic campaigns in South Africa in 1934, 1936, and 1938. In 1941, he
returned to Australia and served at Manly Congregational Church. See Geoffrey L. Barnes, ‘Fletcher,
Lionel Bale (1877-1954)’, ADEB, 116-117. ACC, 24 August 1923, 5.
204
PART III 1914 – 1939
CHAPTER 9
REVIVALISM IN TRANSFORMATION 1912-1921
This chapter focuses on the uncertainty within Methodism, from 1912 to 1921, of
the role and place of the revival within Methodist evangelistic practice. Despite this
uncertainty, the work of the Congregational minister Lionel Fletcher in 1915
demonstrated the continued validity of local revivalism to deliver conversions and
produce denominational growth. Local revivals of the Fletcher-led type were central
to the expansion of Methodist vital religion. However, there was no repetition of
Fletcher’s revivalist conversionary zeal either during, or in the aftermath of, the First
World War. Furthermore, the emergence of the lay-led Methodist Local Preacher’s
and Laymen’s Association, and the Intercessory Prayer Union also reflected a lack of
consensus within Methodism on the relevance of revivals, as well as a growing selfconfidence among lay leaders to conduct revival-type events . A statistical overview
from 1914 to 1939 demonstrates the changing nature of revivalism in the inter-war
period.
Revivalism – Statistical Overview – 1914-1939
Appendix 1 identifies eighty-seven revival-type events in the period, which
culminated with the outbreak of the Second World War. The proportion of selfdescribed Methodists in the South Australian population fell from 24.6 per cent
(100,402) in 1911 (408,558) to 22.0 per cent (127,978) in 1933 (580,949), while
actual church membership increased from 19,262 to 27,403 in the same period. By
way of comparison, the Catholic self-described population decreased from 14.1 per
cent (57,558) to 11.9 per cent (69,443) while the Anglicans increased marginally
from 27.8 per cent (113,781) to 28.3 per cent (164,531).1 When the non-census year
of 1939 is used, it is estimated that the self-described Methodist proportion of the
population decreased slightly from 24.6 per cent (100,402) of the state’s population
1
Census Data from Vamplew, Australians: Historical Statistics, 26, 424, 429. There is no census data
for 1939. After the census year of 1933, the next one was 1947. Therefore, the figures for 1933 are
included.
205
in 1911 (408,558) to 24.4 per cent (149,770) in 1939 (612,949).2
Methodist membership expressed as a percentage of the total population shows a
slight decrease from 4.7 per cent in 1911 to 4.5 per cent in 1939. The number of
conversions recorded from 1914-1939 was 2,826, at an average of 113 conversions
per year, while Methodist church membership increased from 21,689 to 27,883 in the
same period. Conversions, therefore, from 1911 to 1939, accounted for 45.6 per cent
of the membership growth, as membership grew by 6,194 in the same period.3
Furthermore, from 1911 to 1939, there was a 49 per cent estimated increase in
the total Methodist self-described population.4 At the same time, there was an
increase of 44.7 per cent in the total Methodist membership. Therefore, the selfdescribed population increased at a slightly faster rate than the membership. In
addition, when we compare the proportion of both self-described and membership to
the total population, we find there was a marginal decrease of 0.2 per cent and 0.17
per cent respectively. We can therefore conclude that, in the period 1911 to 1939, the
Methodists in South Australia, according to the indices of self-description and
membership, maintained relative parity with population growth. By way of
comparison, at the time of the 1933 census, the Methodists comprised 22.0 per cent
of the state’s population, second only to the Anglicans at 28.3 per cent, followed by
Catholics (12 per cent), Lutherans (4.5 per cent), and Presbyterians (4.3 per cent).
Membership as a percentage of the total population in 1936 situate the Methodists at
4.72 per cent, Anglicans (3.85 per cent), Lutheran (3.14 per cent), Catholic (1.91 per
cent), Churches of Christ (1.33 per cent), Congregational (0.75 per cent), and
Presbyterian (0.62 per cent).5 Methodism maintained its distinctive characteristic as
the majority non-Anglican Protestant religious entity in the state.6 When the two
kinds of denominational association, self-described and membership, are compared,
the Methodist self-described group in 1933 was four and a half times as large as the
2
As 1939 falls mid-way between the 1933 census and the 1947 census, population estimates and
Methodist self-described figures have been calculated accordingly.
3
Conversion and membership figures from Appendix 3.
4
Calculated from Vamplew, Historical Statistics, 429.
5
Comparative church self-described figures are available for the 1933 census and 1936 membership
figures at Vamplew, Historical Statistics, 424, 429.
6
Membership figures are supplied for the non-census 1936 year in Vamplew, Historical Statistics,
429.
206
membership group. In comparison, the ratio was the same for 1866, and six times as
large in 1901.
Of the eighty-seven revival-type events from 1914 to 1939, sixty-four occurred in
rural townships, producing 2,017 converts, while twenty-three occurred in the city of
Adelaide, and producing 654 converts. A further six conducted in both city and
country recorded nil conversions. There were four other missions conducted by other
denominations/groups promoted in the Methodist Church, but for which there are no
conversion figures available for Methodists.7 Of the 2,017 rural conversions recorded
over the 25 years, the Rev. Lionel Fletcher secured 900 in a six-month evangelistic
tour in 1915. This ‘stand out’ figure is noted in the Annual Conversion Index graph
in Appendices 4-1 and 4-2. From 1914 to 1939, the almost ‘flat-line’ Annual
Conversion Index is interrupted by the peak year of 1915.
Appendix 5 consolidates the conversion data from 1838 to 1939. A further
examination of aspects of the statistical evidence over the whole period, from 1838
to 1939, enables some comparative conclusions to be made. From 1838 to 1858,
Appendix 1 identifies thirteen recorded revival type-events, while during the next
seven years, 1859 to 1865, twenty-six events are recorded. The relative infrequency
of Methodist revivals in the colony’s first twenty years is due probably to the nature
and demands of a colonial settler environment; preoccupied with establishing homes,
buildings, rural properties, and places of work. As J. D. Bollen rightly claimed:
But in the long run things of the mind and the spirit need a setting, an
institutional base. And these settings or structures are often not easy to shift
or to set up in a new land. Christians in the long run need the ordinances of
religion, the apparatus of worship and spiritual government, a material fabric
and a ministry. And it is hard to set all this in motion. It takes time to get
things underway at home; it takes time to build churches and gather
congregations in the colony.8
Many of the first generation of colonists were immigrant Methodists and as the
colony increased numerically, denominational expansion occurred by transfer as well
as conversion growth. The latter enabled some early consolidation to take place and
set the boundaries for further expansion in line with population movements. It is
7
8
See Appendix 3 for conversion data.
Bollen, Religion in Australian Society, 16.
207
possible that more revivals occurred, but failed to enter the historical narrative due to
the loss of records.
Of the initial 13 revival events (1838-1858), four were Bible Christian (two
Adelaide, two rural) and nine Wesleyan (seven Adelaide, two rural). The
predominance of Adelaide-based revivalism during the colony’s first twenty years
was reflected in the distribution of population. During the next seven years, from
1859 to 1865, thirteen Wesleyan revivals occurred (six Adelaide, seven rural), five
Primitive Methodist (all rural), and five Bible Christian (all rural), as well as two
country revivals (Wesleyan, Bible Christian, and Primitive Methodist), and one
country revival (Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist). In total, six revivals occurred in
Adelaide, with the remaining twenty in the country. The ratio of just over 3:1 rural to
city revivals, which first occurred in the 1859 to 1865 period, set the pattern for the
next three quarters of a century as rural Methodists found country South Australia
more receptive to revivalist activity than were the city dwellers. The ratio was 2.8:1,
averaged over the final review period of 1914 to 1939. The city of Adelaide may
have predominated as the commercial, trading, and cultural centre of the state, but it
was in the country where Methodist revivalism was most effective.9
The evidence accords with the observation made by David Hempton ‘that the old
Methodist tradition of community-based revivalism that swept parts of England,
Wales, Ireland, and North America in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was
similarly inappropriate for twentieth-century urban populations’.10 The pattern of
South Australian Methodist rural expansion, aided by itinerant preachers, the
formation of the local rural populace into classes and circuits from which local
preachers emerged, Sunday schools and adult mutual improvement societies,
interwoven within the fabric of female sociability, created small closely-knit
communities receptive to outbreaks of periodic revivalism.
Conversion figures also reflect the distribution of revivalist activity. Apart from
1838 to 1865, when almost twice as many conversions occurred in Adelaide in
comparison to rural areas (1.7:1), the ratios reflect a consistent rural predominance,
9
Appendices 1 and 5.
Hempton, Methodism: Empire of the Spirit, 194. See also Kent, Holding the Fort, 36-37.
10
208
as indicated by the ratio of country-to-city conversions, 1866-1913 (3.09), and 19141939 (3.08). The degree to which conversionary activity fuelled membership growth
varied considerably in the thesis period. By comparing the number of conversions as
a percentage of membership growth, from 1838 to 1865, less than half (45.6 per cent)
of conversions accounted for the growth in membership, while from 1866 to 1901,
there were two and a half times more recorded conversions than membership growth.
As Methodism moved beyond its first generation to its second and third,
conversionary activity provided the necessary membership and adherent pools to
service institutional expansionary growth and community influence. It was an
attractive strategy: to promote general societal well-being as it grew numerically.
From 1902 to 1913, there were fewer conversions recorded than new members
welcomed (88.6 per cent), while from 1914 to 1939, the number of conversions
accounted for less than a half (45.6 per cent) of the membership increase.11 Clearly,
the doctrine of salvation that insisted on the efficacy of personal conversion as the
gateway for ‘vital religion’ was not the only route to acquire church membership.
Church membership stabilised in the 1930s, ranging between 27,117 in 1932 and
27,883 in 1939. Conversions occurred in only four years during the 1930s: 1934
(238), 1935 (63), 1936 (250), and 1937 (2). This averaged out to 52 conversions per
year, as compared to the 1866-1901 figure of 543 conversions per year.12 During the
1930s, the Methodist Church experienced minimal membership growth, occasioned
by reduced conversionary activity. The statistical overview demonstrates the
diminished nature of revivalism in the inter-war period.
One who was not a Methodist, but ministered as though he were was the
Congregational minister, the Rev. Lionel Fletcher, who, in 1915, increased the
incidence of conversionary activity to levels associated normally with Methodist
revivalism. In the aftermath of the Chapman-Alexander mission of 1912, and in the
midst of a subdued evangelicalism driven by the exigencies of a national war effort,
Fletcher embarked in 1915 on state-wide non-denominational evangelistic missions.
Fletcher understood these missions as precursor to revival rather than the revival
itself. It was a bold move and signified a change in evangelistic thought and practice.
11
12
Appendix 5.
Appendices 2 and 3.
209
Lionel B. Fletcher 1912 – 1915
Lionel Bale Fletcher was born in 1878, the eighth child of devout Methodist
parents.13 His father was a teacher in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales. All his
brothers entered the Methodist ministry or became local preachers. Following a time
at sea as an apprentice seaman, he worked for one of his brothers on a farm west of
Sydney. In 1896, at Peak Hill Methodist Church, he made a ‘public declaration’ of
his faith in Christ, and at the time, he believed he was called to preach. He preached
his first sermon at the age of 21, and commenced training for the Methodist ministry.
Fletcher did not complete his studies because the Methodist Church was unable to
support him financially. Following his marriage to Maude Basham in 1900, he
worked as a miner and journalist in Charters Towers, Queensland.
Returning to Sydney in 1905, Fletcher commenced his ministerial studies with
the Congregational Church as it was prepared to support him and his family. During
his studies, he worked as a home missionary at Campbelltown Congregational
Church (1905-1908) in New South Wales. In February 1908, he accepted a call to
Kurri Kurri Congregational Church in the Hunter Valley, and was ordained in March
1908. By this time, the family had grown to include two daughters and two sons.
Later in 1908, Fletcher accepted a call to Port Adelaide Congregational Church, and
commenced in February 1909. He succeeded the highly respected J. C. Kirby who
had been its minister since 1880. Kirby had been active in denouncing alcohol abuse
and was a leading advocate of social reform.14 Fletcher continued this work,
believing that ‘real Christianity is shown forth in service’.15 He often inveighed
against the safe sins of drinking, gambling, and immorality, being commended on the
13
On Fletcher’s life, including his ministry in South Australia from 1909 to 1915, see Peter Lambert,
Lionel B. Fletcher: Empire Evangelist (Black Forest, SA: Uniting Church South Australia Historical
Society, 2015); C. W. Malcolm, Twelve Hours in the Day: A Biography of Lionel B. Fletcher
(London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1956). I am indebted to Lambert for this, and the next paragraph.
14
Yvonne L. Potter, ‘Progress, Pubs and Piety, Port Adelaide 1836-1915’ (PhD Thesis, University of
Adelaide, 1999), 390-448. Kirby’s work and social reform agenda, with particular reference to Port
Adelaide is the subject of the chapter. His reform agenda included social purity, temperance, and
women’s suffrage.
15
Hugh McLeod has argued that the working classes of England in the late nineteenth century had
strong connections to the churches. Despite different standards of dress and behaviour between
classes, there was a recognition that matters such as the rites of passage and Sunday schools were an
important part of community life. Church attendances at Port Adelaide would suggest a similar
situation. See McLeod, Religion and Society in England 1850-1914, 121-133. Dickey and Martin,
Building Community, 8-12.
210
one hand by his supporters, and loathed on the other by his opponents. 16 This was the
standard practice of most churchmen at the time who directed their efforts at social
reform through moral suasion and influencing state legislation.17
Port Adelaide was a commercial and shipping precinct, known for its distinct
working-class ethos among the seamen, wharf labourers, factory hands, and shop
attendants who made up a sizable portion of the working population. Serviced by
thirty-eight hotels, and frequented by transient seafarers and travellers, it attracted a
range of social problems of particular concern to the churches. At Port Adelaide,
churches were active in assisting the ‘deserving poor’ within their limited means, and
less inclined to work with the ‘destitute poor’.18 The Port Adelaide Salvation Army
Corps, the third established in Australia in 1882, soon became known for its work
among prostitutes, alcoholics, and those caught breaking the law. 19 At Kapunda,
however, the first flushes of enthusiasm among its workers and followers to adjust
their methods to ‘cater for low tastes’ met with editorial censure.20 This ambivalent
approach helps to explain why some people felt a connection to the churches, while
others felt alienation.21
The Chapman-Alexander mission of 1912 was a significant event in the
development of Fletcher’s evangelistic ministry. During his first three years at the
Port Adelaide Congregational Church (1909-1911), Fletcher’s work, by his own
confession, lacked evangelistic initiative.22 His contact with, and esteem for,
Chapman and Alexander in 1912 was a turning point in his life, as it gave him
confidence, passion, and a methodology of evangelistic practice. Following the
Chapman-Alexander mission in 1912, Fletcher announced an ‘after-meeting’ during
16
Kadina and Wallaroo Times, 23 June 1915, 2.
See for example the work of the Rev. Joseph Coles Kirby as minister of the Port Adelaide
Congregational Church 1880-1908, Potter, ‘Progress, Pubs and Piety, Port Adelaide 1836-1915’, 15.
18
Potter, ‘Progress, Pubs and Piety, Port Adelaide 1836-1915’, 382, 491.
19
Barbara Bolton, Booth’s Drum: The Salvation Army in Australia 1880-1980 (Sydney: Hodder and
Stoughton, 1980), 12-14. The early Salvationists were known as much by their actions as by their
mode of apparel, ‘attired in a sort of second-hand livery costume’. See Port Adelaide News, 13 June
1882.
20
Kapunda Herald, 27 July 1883, 2. The editorial, entitled, ‘Religious Revivalism’ while
acknowledging the fine temperance work and religious motivation of the Salvation Army, laments its
tendency to ‘vulgarise religion’ in order to appeal to ‘low tastes’.
21
Dickey and Martin, Building Communit, 11.
22
Fletcher, Mighty Moments, 43. Fletcher stated that his ‘definite’ work as an evangelist commenced
only after the 1912 mission. Mighty Moments, 47.
17
211
a service at the Port Adelaide Congregational Church; nineteen people went forward
and committed their lives to Christ. Later he declared: ‘I date the beginning of my
definite work as an evangelist from that night’.23 Keen to follow up on the work of
the missioners, Fletcher innovated and incorporated into his services, the ‘appeal’ or
‘decision for Christ’, the ‘after-meeting’, special music and a song leader, all of
which he had witnessed during the Chapman-Alexander mission.24
For the next three years (1912-1915) at Port Adelaide, Fletcher honed his craft as
a pastor-evangelist. During these years he secured 500 conversions by the time of his
departure to undertake a six-month evangelistic tour of South Australia in the second
half of 1915.25 The Methodist Church expressed keen interest in, and support for, the
‘United Christian Missions’ led by Fletcher, no doubt aware that, although a
Congregationalist, he was a ‘theological alternative to the liberal ethos of
Australasian Congregationalism’.26 The call for ‘relentless and sustained
evangelism’, made by the editor of the Methodist newspaper following the
Chapman-Alexander mission in June 1912, did not materialise as hoped into a
continuous long-running revival.27 Neither did the Scoville mission, despite its shortterm conversionary benefit to the churches. Just five months after the mission, the
same editor of the Australian Christian Commonwealth lamented the lack of ‘the old
evangelistic fervour’; it was unthinkable to regard Methodism as ‘spent energy or
cancelled spiritual force’.28
He had good reason to be concerned. First, there were Methodists who looked to
the mission as the revival, and when Chapman and Alexander left town, so did the
revival.29 Mission-goers returned to their congregations and ‘exchanged the heat of a
large hall for the atmosphere of a sparsely attended church’.30 Fletcher held instead
that the revival followed the mission. Therefore, he was determined to do whatever
23
Malcolm, Twelve Hours in the Day, 178.
Fletcher, Mighty Moments, 45-46.
25
ACW, 21 January 1916, 7. Orr, Evangelical Awakenings, 114. Orr has the number of conversions as
200. The ACC figure of 500 is probably correct, as Fletcher supplied the figure in an interview on the
eve of his departure for Wales in January 1916.
26
Breward, A History of the Churches in Australasia, 258.
27
ACC, 14 June 1912, 3.
28
Editorial, ‘Connexional Evangelism’, ACC, 18 October 1912, 3.
29
Fletcher, Mighty Moments, 44.
30
Lionel B. Fletcher, The Effective Evangelist (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1923), 26.
24
212
he could to maintain concerted evangelistic activity as the precursor to revival:
I soon learned what seems to be the hardest lesson to teach ministers and
churches, and that is that if a mission is vigorously followed up, and made
the beginning of advance work, instead of the end of special effort, then
revival will follow.31
Whereas Chapman conducted ‘missions’, Fletcher now preached for ‘revival’.32
Second, there was no connexional evangelist to maintain a state-wide focus on
the evangelistic task, unlike almost all the other states.33 Third, modest revivalist
activity in the wake of the Chapman-Alexander mission in the second half of 1912,
gave way to minimal activity in 1913-1914, and all but ceased following the
outbreak of the First World War, as indicated by falling additions to membership and
few conversions. After the record year of 1912, during which membership increased
by 1,502, it rose 531 in 1913 and 394 in 1914. In the same period the number of
recorded conversions fell from 1,117 in 1912, to 44 in 1913, and 80 in the first half
of 1914. The advent of Fletcher’s ‘United Christian Missions’ (albeit nondenominational), had the potential to deliver what Methodism itself could not.
Within Methodism, there was waning interest in promoting revivals, and a lessening
expectancy that revival would occur. Fletcher saw the Port Adelaide Congregational
Church grow by conversions from 350 to 500 members between 1909 and 1915, his
last year at Port Adelaide, to become the largest of any Congregational church in
Australia. 34
During the second half of 1915, Fletcher conducted sixteen ‘United Christian
Missions’ on behalf of participating churches: the Baptist, Churches of Christ,
Methodist, Presbyterian, and Congregational.35 The degree of participation varied
across the state and depended on local factors, such as whether the local clergy and
lay leaders were in favour of a mission. During the missions, 1,318 conversions were
31
Fletcher, Mighty Moments, 44-45.
Adapted from Jackson, Churches and People in Australia and New Zealand 1860-1930, 60. The
original statement is, ‘Whereas Taylor preached for ‘revival’, Chapman conducted ‘missions’.
33
ACC, 16 August 1912, 3.
34
Lambert, Lionel B. Fletcher: Empire Evangelist, 5.
35
ACC, 11 June 1915, 9. An Executive consisting of four members from each church made the
necessary arrangements. The Methodist weekly paper, Australian Christian Commonwealth, reported
on nine missions conducted from June to December 1915. See Appendix 1. The paper recorded
another seven as having taken place.
32
213
recorded and of these, 900 claimed Methodist allegiance. Methodist church
membership increased by 1,049 in 1915.36 It was to be the last year of significant
membership growth for South Australian Methodists until 1937. From 1900 to 1915,
the church’s membership increased 54 per cent from 14,738 to 22, 738. Over the next
21 years, from 1916 to 1937, membership increased by only 22 per cent from 22,791
to 27,855.37 By comparison with the first 15 years of the twentieth-century, the
interwar period saw few evangelistic missions and conversions.
The mission conducted by Fletcher at Kadina in the ‘copper triangle’ of the
Upper Yorke Peninsula, 140 kilometres north-west of Adelaide, from 27 June 1915
to 9 July 1915, was arguably the most significant of the missions he conducted
during the six-month period. Kadina was near Moonta, in an area with a strong
revivalist tradition. All churches united for nightly meetings held at Taylor Street
Methodist Church, which hundreds attended. The three concluding meetings
attracted from 600 to 700 on each occasion. The two Sunday meetings held at the
Town Hall were so full that several hundred were unable to gain entry. Fletcher
preached ‘the old, old story’, emphasised the power of prayer, repentance, and
salvation, was unequivocal in his denunciation of evil, and centralised the person of
Christ and the atonement as the basis of his appeals. During the mission, Fletcher
secured 235 conversions, of which 184 claimed Methodist allegiance.38 Like
Chapman and others before him, Fletcher appealed to the evangelical mindset that
emphasised the gospel as the ‘old story’, as distinct from ‘modernism’, evolutionary
theory, and higher criticism, which for some Methodists, undermined the truth of the
Bible. ‘Old story’ terminology ‘appealed to and fostered a siege mentality among
evangelicals’.39 The evangelical subculture cradled the ‘vital old-time truths without
the disturbing technicalities of doctrine’ and provided what the crowds wanted.40
The effect on Methodist membership at Kadina was remarkable. Membership
increased from 502, with 304 on probation (temporary membership), to 721, and four
36
See Appendix 2. ACC, 21 January 1916, 7.
Membership figures from Appendix 3.
38
ACC, 30 July 1915, 11. On the atonement, which Fletcher puts at the ‘essential centre’ of the gospel
see Fletcher, The Effective Evangelist, 60, 214-215.
39
Hilliard, Popular Revivalism, 32.
40
ACC, 23 July 1909, 10; 22 August 1913, 15.
37
214
on probation, an increase of 43 per cent. Membership declined to 676 in the
following year but recovered to 707 the year after. The fact that the number on
probation (304), greatly exceeded the number of converts who sought identification
with Methodism (184) at the time of the mission, indicated a further harvest of
members on probation after the mission concluded.41 Statistically, the mission
achieved a great thing for Kadina Methodism. It generated an impressive number of
converts. They went on to church membership and maintained their formal
association with the church. Two years after the wave of converts took up
membership, the decline was a miniscule two per cent (721 to 707).42 How do we
account for the success of Fletcher? A detailed examination of his six-month
itineration as an evangelist in South Australia is outside the scope of this study.
However, some preliminary observations made from the Kadina mission indicate the
need for further enquiry.
First, Fletcher was clear in his own mind as to the central focus of his
evangelistic exertions: to ‘bring the hearer into right relationship with God through
Jesus Christ’. 43 A proponent of ‘vital religion’, Fletcher understood that the Christian
life is lived in a ‘vital, real, forceful, and fervent experience’.44 This was his mission
and it established the parameters of every aspect of his work.
Second, there was Fletcher, the man. Referred to as ‘the man from Port
Adelaide’, Fletcher possessed a certain mystique, which the ‘man in the street’ could
understand.45 The fact that he had resigned from his pastorate to undertake nondenominational evangelism struck a chord of approval with the proponents of a
‘common Christianity’, and with those not wanting to attach undue significance to a
particular religious denomination.46 After all, men looking for a ‘man’s man’, some
41
Membership figures extracted from Conference Statistics. See Methodist Church of Australasia,
Minutes of the South Australia Conference, 1916; 1917.
42
Minutes, 1918, 72; 1919, 76.
43
Fletcher, The Effective Evangelist, 49.
44
Quote cited from Methodist Church of Australasia, Minutes of the South Australia Conference,
1917, annual address to members. It signifies in part, South Australian Methodism’s continuing
commitment to ‘vital religion’. See Minutes, 1917, 58. In Fletcher’s mind this was distinct from
‘nominalism’, and was overcome through evangelism. See Fletcher, The Effective Evangelist, 58.
45
The press, in reference to Fletcher’s visits, often used the term ‘the man from Port Adelaide’. See
for example Kadina and Wallaroo Times, 19 June 1915, 3; 3 July 1915, 2.
46
‘Common Christianity’ was a term applied to a Protestant Church ethos of common acceptance of
essential doctrines. See Hilliard, Popular Revivalism, 19; Ian Breward, Australia: ‘The Most Godless
215
of whom enlisted from Kadina during the First World War, had little regard for
denominational teachings and theological musings.47 Sectarian rivalries held no
attraction.48 In Fletcher, they found one with whom they could identify.49
Third, Fletcher believed that supernatural power was needed for effective
preaching. According to him, the baptism of the Holy Spirit was essential to the
evangelist as the means by which power to preach was made available. 50 As a
preacher, Fletcher did not want ‘form without the power’.51 Well-understood within
Methodist circles, the doctrine of the baptism of the Holy Spirit was often introduced
to the young potential lay preacher through William Arthur’s book, The Tongue of
Fire (1856), cited as one of the standard works on the subject.52 As early as 1867, the
Wesleyan Methodist minister, John Watsford, gave an ordination charge in which he
commended Arthur’s work on the importance of power in preaching:
A minister cannot be responsible for success, but he is responsible for
power; responsible, not only for presenting the truth to the people, in which
many seem to think their responsibility terminates, but responsible also for
this – that the truth he presents be not dry, but accompanied with some
energy of the Spirit.
Barely able to maintain composure, Watsford, known for his uncompromising views
on the matter, thundered: ‘And oh, my brethren, above all things seek that power’.53
Place Under Heaven”? (Melbourne: Beacon Hill Books, 1988), 23-25.
47
On the term ‘man’s man’, see Kadina and Wallaroo Times, 19 June 1915, 3. On the First World
War Australian soldier see Richard V. Pierard, ‘The ANZAC Day Phenomenon: A Study in Civil
Religion’, in Geoffrey R. Treloar and Robert D. Linder, eds., Making History for God: Essays on
Evangelicalism, Revival, and Mission (Sydney: Robert Menzies College, 2004), 246.
48
Breward, Australia: ‘The Most Godless Place Under Heaven’, 23.
49
This is in contrast to the personal mystique surrounding the Welsh evangelist, Evan Roberts in the
Welsh Revival of 1904-05, who through his emphasis on divine agency, ‘it is all of God’,
manufactured an apparent ‘mysterious omnipresence’, which in time, ‘caught up with him’. See
Edward J. Gitre, ‘The 1904-05 Welsh Revival: Modernization, Technologies, and Techniques of the
Self’, Church History 73, no.4 (December 2004): 802.
50
Fletcher, The Effective Evangelist, 100-102.
51
‘Form Without The Power’ was the title of address in the SAPMR, May 1869, 75. The author refers
to William Arthur’s book in which he ‘shows us very forcibly our need of power’.
52
William Arthur, The Tongue of Fire, popular edn. (London: Charles H. Kelly, 1856), 59-65. The
reference to the book as a standard work or ‘textbook’ is in ACC, 21 July 1933, 14. Fletcher
commended Arthur’s Tongue of Fire as worthy of prayerful and careful reading. See Fletcher, The
Effective Evangelist, 102.
53
SAWMMag, October 1867, 166. At the time, Watsford was chairman of the District, and a staunch
advocate on the importance of divine power in preaching. As late as 1946, the Rev. John Hough, on
the eve of the ‘Thanksgiving Memorial Crusade’ wrote of the continued relevance of Arthur’s work
for understanding the place of divine power in preaching. See South Australian Methodist, 14 June
1946, 6.
216
Fletcher seemed to embody divine power more than most, if his ‘success’ in gaining
converts is any guide.54 While churchgoers might understand the use of religious
language, it was of little interest to the ‘man in the street’. They understood Fletcher,
the man, and his ability to communicate with them.
Fourth, Fletcher communicated in ways that people could understand. The
Kadina and Wallaroo Times described Fletcher as possessing commanding speaking
skills:
Mr Fletcher is a born evangelist, gifted with a flow of language and the
ability to paint word pictures such as few can equal… [He is] sincere,
straight, and fearless… He is absolutely at home in speaking to men…The
earnest, forceful addresses of Rev. Fletcher have had a telling effect on his
hearers.55
Fletcher took an interest in the life of seafaring, working-class and commercial
Port Adelaide, helped probably by his service as an apprentice on the sailing ship
Macquarie.56 The Register claimed that Fletcher’s ‘previous experiences as a
midshipman, a shearer, rouseabout, a miner, and a sub-editor’, enabled him to exert a
‘wonderful influence’ through the pulpit.57 He worked well with men, many
prepared to give him a hearing when clerical status alone might dictate otherwise.
His severe and straightforward condemnation of evil as he understood it, balanced by
appeals to better working conditions and a better life for individuals earned him
acceptance. 58 Relatives grieving over the loss of sons at Gallipoli in 1915 may have
found some solace through Fletcher’s understanding of the soldiers’ altruism, as men
who ‘signed away their individual freedom that they might secure the freedom of the
world’. This was consistent with common community perceptions of Australia’s
participation in the First World War.59
Fifth, the people of Port Adelaide knew and respected Fletcher. A special Sunday
54
According to Fletcher, citing Arthur’s Tongue of Fire, preachers, in order to save souls must be
totally reliant on the Holy Spirit. See ACC, 6 March 1914, 6.
55
Kadina and Wallaroo Times, 19 June 1915, 3; 23 June 1915, 2.
56
Geoffrey L. Barnes, ‘Fletcher, Lionel Bale (1877-1954), ADEB, 116.
57
Register, 2 February 1924, 5.
58
Kadina and Wallaroo Times, 3 July 1915, 2. Fletcher, The Effective Evangelist, 50.
59
Fletcher, The Effective Evangelist, 51. The Roll of Honour to the men from the church who enlisted
in the First World War contains 124 names, and the names of 32 men who died in the War. Some of
the men would have enlisted and died during Fletcher’s time at the church, as the ill-fated Gallipoli
campaign commenced on 25 April 1915. See Register, 2 February 1924, 5.
217
service for families at Port Adelaide Congregational Church in 1913 demonstrated
Fletcher’s respect among the people of the district. A women’s service attracted 750
to hear Fletcher preach on ‘The Glory of Womanhood’. In the afternoon, a navy band
led a march from the railway station to the church. Included in the march were men
of Fletcher’s church. The Mayor and members of the Corporation attended the
evening service, which attracted a thousand men who filled every available space,
some 300 being unable to enter. Fletcher preached against the sins of gambling,
alcohol abuse, and sexual misbehaviour, and challenged the men to accept Christ as
Saviour. Hundreds remained for the after-meeting, which yielded twenty-five
converts, making fifty for the day. For Fletcher, the issue was not ‘Why men don’t
go to church?’; rather, ‘Why men DO go to church?’ A report of the events of the
day by Kirby provided part of the answer:
Mr Fletcher has been the pastor for four and a half years and by steady work
and prayer has accumulated great weight in the Port. He is not an unknown
wandering evangelist. He and his people have given themselves to the
work.60
While Fletcher always believed in the work of the professional evangelist, he was
of the opinion that the settled pastorate provided the best circumstances for
evangelistic work.61 Lionel Fletcher’s evangelistic work, like the many local, city, or
rural revivals and mission campaigns that preceded him, were important events for
participants within the orbit of South Australian ‘vital religion’. Fletcher
demonstrated that despite the difficult wartime conditions, revivalism still
commanded the allegiance of many. These revivals, noted for their localised and
limited duration have no equivalent both in effect and context, like, for example, ‘the
revival of 1859 [which] has a hallowed place with the imagined past of contemporary
evangelicalism in Ulster’.62 There is no Australian equivalent.
Revivalism and the War
Within weeks of the outbreak of the First World War, the Register newspaper
60
The quotation and account of the events come from the ACC, 22 August 1913, 15; Port Adelaide
News, 15 August 1913.
61
Fletcher, The Effective Evangelist, 136-141.
62
Andrew Holmes, ‘The Experience and Understanding of Religious Revival in Ulster
Presbyterianism, c. 1800-1930’, Irish Historical Studies xxxiv, no. 136 (November 2005): 384.
218
asserted that ‘an old-fashioned divine of the ultra-evangelical type said that revival
meetings were much more successful in time of calamity than in halcyon days’. 63
Whilst the identity of the ‘old-fashioned divine’ remained anonymous, the comment
could well have originated in Methodism. The editor of the Australian Christian
Commonwealth, captured the prevailing mood when he reproduced an article from
the English Primitive Methodist Leader:
Is it too much too hope that a revival of spiritual religion may be the
outcome of our present national experience…the time of the Napoleonic
wars was marked by a strong revival of religion, and that there was an
extraordinary outbreak of what may be called aggressive Christianity. Why
may it not be so again?64
Confidently maintained, within Methodist preaching circles at least, was the belief
that the war would lead to a widespread revival of religion. At the Australasian
General Conference of the Methodist Church, held in Melbourne in June 1917, the
Rev. Brian Wibberley, at the end of a long oration entitled, The Church and the War,
declared his considered and heart-felt belief that ‘through this baptism of blood I see
a purified Church emerge with a baptism of power. We are on the eve of a
Renaissance of Faith, a revival of religion that shall shake the world like a universal
Pentecost’. The ‘falsity of materialism without morality’ with its attendant
expressions of hedonism, utilitarianism, rationalism, and ‘Nietzscheism’, had birthed
a ‘civilisation without religion’ and lit the ‘fires of diabolism and barbarism’.65
Wibberley believed that a proportionate international re-awakening of religion would
follow international calamity.
It is difficult to determine whether such pronouncements permeated to the pew.
Judged, however, by post-War revivalist activity, the pew seemed less inclined to
belief. For the bereaved in search of comfort and meaning, the grand theme of a
godly British empire emerging from the war as a ‘unity of free peoples bound
63
Register, 8 September 1914, 4. For a comprehensive account of the attitudes and extent of the
Australian evangelical involvement in the War, see Robert D. Linder, The Long Tragedy: Australian
Evangelical Christians and the Great War, 1914-1918 (Adelaide: Openbook Publishers, 2000).
64
Revivalist practices within Methodism were well known. The editor summed up a widespread
belief, held by many ministers in the early years of the War. ACC, 20 November 1914, 11.
65
ACC, 15 June 1917, 165-166. Two weeks later, an article by the Rev. W. A. Potts conveyed a
similar belief on the post-war need for revival, but used different language: ‘What we shall need after
the war is what we needed before and during the war – not so much new methods or machinery or
adjustments as a new passion and power and spirit’. See ACC, 29 June 1917, 201.
219
together by bonds wrought in the fires of affliction and made holy by the blood of
our sons’, may have ameliorated the grief and tragedy of personal loss.66 For others,
familiar or otherwise with the idea of God, the language of sacrifice for some higher
purpose, good out of evil, and a God who oversees the nations, such understandings
may have been difficult to reconcile with the loss of a son, brother, friend, neighbour,
or fellow soldier. For many, personal imperatives took precedence. Yet the regular
rhythms of church life continued: societies, Sunday schools, Bands of Hope,
Christian Endeavour groups, choirs, and fellowship groups, maintaining a semblance
of order, predictability, and self-worth.
Methodist revivalist activity during the First World War, aside from the work of
Lionel Fletcher’s ‘United Christian Missions’ in the second half of 1915, was
minimal. For Methodism, the war years failed to produce the much-anticipated
revival of religion. Evangelistic initiatives rested more on Fletcher’s work than on
circuit or conference evangelistic endeavours. Fletcher did not disappoint, and
demonstrated that preaching for conversion still merited the earnest attention of
circuit ministers and evangelists alike.
Fletcher and those like him stood at the centre of the purpose of Methodism,
which, the Rev. William Shaw reminded the General Conference of the Australasian
Methodist Church in June 1917, was:
‘To generally reform the nation and to spread Scriptural holiness throughout
the land’. That mission is our commission, and is more than social reform. It
is the old evangel of personal salvation, and personal holiness, as the ground
and the justification of personal service, whole-hearted and self-sacrificing
for the saving of the nation. The Church of God in the nation is a great
redemptive and not a mere revolutionary agency. She is not simply
reformatory, but regenerative, seeking to change the nation’s life by
changing the heart of the individual.67
Despite the statement’s wartime context, it was nonetheless consistent with the
evangelical thrust of Methodism. Evangelical Methodism understood revival as a
66
Extract from a speech by the South Australian Methodist minister, the Rev. William Shaw at the
Australasian General Conference of June 1917. Most Methodist leaders were united in their
enthusiastic support for the British Empire.
67
ACC, 15 June 1917, 163. Shaw was elected to the presidency of the South Australia Methodist
Conference in February 1918.
220
means of producing converts who then progress in holiness.68 The dissemination of
higher principles for national living, or ‘reforming the nation’ would occur after
individual conversion and growth in holiness. While some deprecated the link
between ‘beliefs and behaviour, and the need for public morality’, it was a statement
of classic evangelicalism.69 Would the church’s activity in the inter-war period be
subject to the ‘old evangel of personal salvation and personal holiness’ or would
another ‘evangel’ be pursued?
Nine months later, Shaw, as president of the South Australia Conference,
attempted to prioritise the relationship between personal salvation and personal
holiness, declaring, in his presidential address in February 1918, that ‘apostolic
evangelism must be first, foremost, and dominant…the only safeguard of the purity
of the Church is the intensity of its own missionary passion’.70 It was the same
dualistic evangel, but with evangelism as the priority; pursue evangelism and
conversionary activity, and holiness will occur as an attendant consequence. After
all, ‘Methodist piety began with conversion’.71
The church did not depend solely on the work of specialist itinerant evangelists
such as Fletcher. In 1918, with the intention of helping circuits, Conference set aside
the April to June quarter as the time for meetings designed to ‘Deepen the Spiritual
Life’, while the July to September quarter focussed on evangelistic initiatives.72 The
extent to which circuit ministers cooperated with the resolutions of Conference and
implemented local initiatives depended on the enthusiasm and understanding of the
ministers and key lay-leaders such as local preachers, class leaders and circuit
stewards. They determined the allocation of limited circuit resources – to deepen the
spiritual life of members, or to evangelise the lost, or manage both. The pursuit of
holiness was a revivalist movement intended to benefit and re-awaken the believer,
while the pursuit of evangelism was a revivalist movement intended to benefit the
unregenerate. 73 How Methodists understood this dualistic mission determined
68
See also Chant, The Spirit of Pentecost, 48.
David Parker, ‘The Evangelical Heritage of Australian Protestantism: Towards an Historical
Perspective’, Evangelical Quarterly 57, no. 1 (January-March 1985): 52.
70
ACC, 1 March 1918, 745-746.
71
Bebbington, Holiness in Nineteenth-Century England, 53.
72
ACC, 3 May 1918, 70.
73
Charles Price and Ian Randall, Transforming Keswick (Carlisle: OM Publishing, 2000), 14.
69
221
priorities.
Would a truly national revival of religion follow in the aftermath of the difficult
years of the ‘Great War’? With the end of the First World War, the president of the
General Conference declared that the ‘Christianization of society’ was the task of the
church in this new era of world history. The church must face the challenges of the
social, industrial, political, educational, and economic arenas with a continued
declaration of the lordship of Christ over all. To prosecute the task, a church,
‘prepared, consecrated, sanctified’ and loyal to the wartime spirit of sacrifice,
unbound by ‘stereotyped, hide-bound conservatism in methods or policy’, could
work towards the goal.74 The indefatigable Dr. W. G. Torr was clear in his mind as to
the post-war opportunity and method, declaring that:
There was probably never a time in the history of Australia when there was
a greater need and a better opportunity for ‘aggressive Christianity’ than the
present.75
It was a hope shared by many within Methodism and well articulated by a circuit
minister H. T. Rush, who called for ‘a great organised effort on the part of the
Methodist Church that would link up all the forces and agencies that make for
evangelism in an attempt to win a 1,000 souls for Christ’. Rush believed that
concerted action, combined with prayer, would make an ‘old-time revival’
possible’.76
Neither the war nor its immediate aftermath brought the spiritual advance that
many hoped would eventuate. If international war and turmoil failed to stimulate
individuals and nations toward religious revival, how to secure it was the subject of a
letter to the editor of the Australian Christian Commonwealth in February 1920.
Written by the lay Methodist William Reed, it propounded a modified ‘Finneyism’.
Reed argued that ‘revivals of religion are scientific, that is, they are the natural
effects in the spiritual realm of efficient causes, Divine and human’. According to
Reed, Australia’s Pentecost would come as the great doctrines such as the
74
J. E. Carruthers, ‘The Challenge of the New Era: A Presidential Message’, ACC, 3 January 1919,
615.
75
ACC, 18 April 1919, 42.
76
ACC, 18 April 1919, 47.
222
resurrection of Jesus, repentance, prayer, faith, and holiness were preached in the
power of the Holy Ghost.77 Religion was a matter of the spirit, and social
indifference to religion would be overcome through effective and persuasive
demonstrations of religious fervour.
For many Methodists, a more pressing need was to attend to the needs of
returning war veterans. On returning to Australia, veterans bound by deep, tragic,
and profound experiences, inter-laced with the ‘crimson thread of kinship’, found
most churches receptive to their needs. Churches were keen to acknowledge wartime
service. For example, Malvern Methodist Church established a Roll of Honour,
memorial windows, and a soldiers’ memorial hall, adorned with the photographs of
three young Malvern men killed in the war, as acts of remembrance for the present
and future generations.78 These were acts of cathartic social significance in dealing
with loss, grief, and personal dislocation caused by the war. For the veterans who
found greater solace among their own, their presence within the Returned Sailors’
and Soldiers’ Imperial League of Australia (RSSILA)79 contributed to the
development of the ANZAC legend and provided a ‘fascinating example of the way
Christian themes were laicized’.80
There were familiar signs of a re-emergence of revivalist tendencies within
Methodism in the emerging post-war era. The appointment of the Rev. D. T. Reddin
as Conference Evangelist to lead evangelistic missions throughout the state, and the
formation of the Local Preachers’ and Laymen’s Association in 1918 to conduct
week-end ‘deepening of the spiritual life missions’ for church members, underlined
Methodism’s dual mission of personal salvation and personal holiness.81 Reddin
77
William Reed, Letter to the Editor, ACC, 6 February 1920, 694.
Rob Linn, Malvern Uniting Church: A Centenary History (Blackwood, SA: Historical Consultants,
1991), 30-35. The example of Malvern, with local variations, was typical of most Methodist churches
at the time. As at April 1918, there were 127 names on the Malvern ‘Roll of Honour’, of whom 21
died during the war. The roll was later updated in 1919. See Linn, Malvern Uniting Church, 27. For
an assessment on the use of bereavement and memorial notices by Protestant relatives during the war
see Paul Barreira, Bereavement and Memorial Notices as Counterpoint to Devout Enlistment, 19141918 (Adelaide: Uniting Church Historical Society, 2003).
79
The RSSILA was formed in September 1916 as a federated body to represent the interests of First
World War returned sailors and soldiers of the states of the Commonwealth of Australia. Its first
congress began in Brisbane on 11 September 1916. See Frank Crowley, ed., A Documentary History
of Australia Volume 4, Modern Australia 1901-1939 (Melbourne: Nelson, 1978), 262-264.
80
Breward, Australia: “The Most Godless Place Under Heaven”?, 49.
81
ACC, 28 June 1918, 201; 23 August 1918, 323; 18 April 1919, 47.
78
223
preached for conversion and gave addresses on deepening the spiritual life during
1919 leading to115 adult conversions, and secured another 264 adult conversions in
1920. Of the twelve missions reported on in the Australian Christian
Commonwealth, only one took place in Adelaide, at Argent Street Church,
Payneham, in November 1919. The remainder occurred in (mainly northern) rural
areas.82 Appointed Conference Evangelist for 1921, the Rev. H. F. Lyons obtained
fifty-six conversions, and, in 1922, a further fifty-seven conversions. He led many
Methodists into a deeper spiritual life experience regarded by some as a revival of
church members and a precursor to further revival.83
Methodist Local Preachers’ and Laymen’s Association
The Methodist Local Preachers’ and Laymen’s Association, from its formation in
South Australia, sought to deepen the spiritual life of Methodists by revitalising
existing agencies, rather than establishing new ones.84 With help from five
Melbourne local preachers, the first weekend mission conducted in the state was at
Semaphore Methodist Church, commencing on 29 June 1918. The reception of forty
new members later in the year as the ‘first fruits of the mission’ confirmed, for many,
the value of the event. 85 Further suburban missions took place at suburban
Payneham, Campbelltown, Norwood, and at Balaklava, a country town north of
Adelaide.86 An extended account of one such mission held at Norwood in August
82
Appendices 1 and 2. Reddin claimed that ‘over one thousand souls have publicly surrendered to
Christ’ during his evangelistic missions in 1920. See ACC, 11 February, 1921, 710. The disparity
between the 1,000 conversions and a membership increase of only three for 1920 from 23,112 (1919)
to 23,115 (1920), and a reduction of 95 for 1921, was understood by the Rev. C. E. Schafer of the
Conference Evangelistic Committee as due to: converts from other denominations, backsliders
making a new declaration, and persons who, although ‘formally connected with the church’, had not
received ‘the witness of the Spirit’. See ACC, 18 February 1921, 733.
83
ACC, 8 July 1921, 233; 5 August 1921, 303; 21 October 1921, 477.
84
ACC, 23 August 1918, 323.
85
ACC, 28 June 1918, 201; 6 December 1918, 574.
86
ACC, 6 September 1918, 355; 25 October 1918, 473; 6 December 1918, 574. The Payneham
mission produced 24 new members and a ‘quickened church’. The first President of the Local
Preachers’ Association (LPA) was Mr. Arthur Langsford, brother of the Rev. W.A. Langsford and Mr.
Walter Langsford. In business, Arthur Langsford was the proprietor of A.S. Langsford & Co.,
specialising in electrical products. He regularly advertised in the ACC. The first secretary was Mr.
A.E. Clarkson, also a retailer, specialising in bathroom fixtures. See for example advertisements of
both firms in the ACC, 12 January 1923, 635. All three Langsfords were present at one of the earliest
LPA missions, which occurred at Norwood in August 1918. See ACC, 6 September 1918, 1918, 355.
The Rev. W.A. Langsford was present on the platform with three other Methodist ministers during a
meeting of the Pentecostal preacher, Aimee Semple McPherson, during her visit to Adelaide in
October 1922. The Advertiser listed incorrectly the Methodist minister as W.H. Langsford. The only
224
1918 captures both the nature and spirit of the meetings:
We were full of expectancy, having heard of the wonderful reviving
wherewith Payneham and Campbelltown had been blessed and enriched.
The meeting of the afternoon of Saturday was one of adjustment to methods
and getting into touch with the brethren…The tea at 5.30, with the family
worship that followed, consisting of Scripture reading, prayer, and the
singing of old-time hymns and tunes was a time of great blessing and cheer.
At 7.30 a good company assembled, and a hallowed season was
experienced. The brethren knew their work, and were prepared each to take
his part when called upon. As the meeting proceeded, the presence and
power of God became more and more evident. We were filled with wonder
and awe at what we heard and felt and saw. The desire for greater light and
power was manifested by the large number that thronged the communion
rail…Sunday morning at 7.30 a company of fifty persons gathered for
prayer and preparation for the day’s work. They came from Paynehem,
Prospect, Maylands, and elsewhere, and God came very near to all of us.
The brethren were evidently in the Spirit, and the Spirit was in them…The
evening will be long remembered, the communion rail was more than full by
those seeking the fuller blessing and others the pardon of their sins…A great
feature of the missions is the utter disregard of form and conventionality.
Hymns are announced verse by verse as in the old days, and persons in the
congregation are called upon to read the verses. The usual sermon is set
aside, and warm-hearted addresses and testimonies given instead. Mottoes
hung from gas pendants and elsewhere speak to the eye, while the brethren
address the ear and the heart. These variations keep the audiences alert,
under what California Taylor termed “Surprise power”. Sunday and Monday
evening fathers, mothers, and friends knelt by the seekers, sons, daughters,
and others, and their joy found expression in exclamation and tears. It was a
blessed season. The people seemed unable to leave, and at 10 o’clock, the
closing hour, but few had left.87
Another report described the leadership style of the team:
The local preachers were a band of five, pledged to support the leader in
every detail, under the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit, and during the
meeting it was evident that there was no leader but he whom we all delight
to honour.88
At the outset of the holiness-inspired, lay-led local preachers’ meetings,
conversions occurred as well as calls for a ‘richer spiritual experience’ – sometimes
referred to as the ‘Baptism of the Holy Spirit’. As time passed, fewer conversions
took place at these meetings as the emphasis shifted to meeting the needs of the
ordained Methodist minister at that time was W.A. Langsford. See Advertiser, 14 October 1922, 15.
Adelaide churches (including the Methodist) were reluctant to endorse publicly McPherson’s visit.
87
88
ACC, 6 September 1918, 355. The Rev. J. Watts, circuit minister at the time, wrote the report.
ACC, 23 August 1918, 323.
225
regular churchgoer.89 A mission conducted at the Unley Park Baptist Church in
November 1919 so inspired the superintendent of the Sunday school that he referred
to the work as a ‘revival in the Holy Spirit’s power’. He called for greater spiritual
freedom in the church:
The cry to modernise the church is not our need. The church has become
man-managed, and just so soon as we get back to God and give Him the full
and complete control of His church, through the whole-hearted surrender
and consecration of ourselves as workers, so soon will our problems be
solved, and the Acts of the Apostles will be more than repeated in our
midst.90
Amidst the unease of the fundamentalist-modernist debate, association meetings
appealed to those in search of the certainties of a less complicated era.91 In a rather
different sense, the trending away from the form and conventionality of Methodist
services, coupled with lay-leadership, appealed to those proponents of revivalist
democratisation who wanted greater freedom within organised religion. The ability
of local preachers to lead meetings extemporaneously without a formalised agenda,
in what later generations might call being ‘led by the Spirit’, was innovative,
somewhat un-Methodistical, but well received. This greater freedom, understood in
the context of the individual believer’s relationship to the Holy Spirit, was subjective
in nature and open to interpretive judgments. As Mr. P. Barbour, the Sunday school
superintendent declared:
The reality of the indwelling Holy Spirit is not a thing that we can talk about
or explain, but the best test to give it is to read the Acts of the Apostles and
seek after it on our knees before God…Many young and old are now
possessed by the Holy Ghost and with fire.92
It is not possible to determine the nature of the possession described. A second
letter of testimony, published alongside the Barbour correspondence, was from the
Rev. Donald McNicol, minister of Unley Park Baptist Church, who could only say
that he ‘was present at every meeting and received a very definite blessing’, going on
89
See for example ACC, 11 July 1919, 234; 5 December 1919, 574.
ACC, 5 December 1919, 574. Mr. P. Barbour was the superintendent.
91
To see how one rural district coped with post-war change see Rob Linn, A Diverse Land: A History
of the Lower Murray, Lakes and Coorong (Netley: Meningie Historical Society, 1988), 164-190.
92
ACC, 5 December 1919, 574.
90
226
to declare that the mission benefited his church.93 Two weeks later, at a meeting of
the Methodist Local Preachers’ Association, McNicol understood his experience as
‘personal holiness’ or ‘entire sanctification’, which, like the forgiveness of sins, is
received by faith. The predominantly Methodist meeting would have warmed to the
holiness terminology as McNicol went on to cite the holiness messages of William
‘California’ Taylor and John Watsford.94
Bound together by a predominantly common evangelicalism, these Baptists and
Methodists now shared elements of a common holiness piety with Pentecostal
overtones, preferring to overlook differences in holiness terminology. 95 At the very
least, the meetings met the need of those in search of warm ‘sentimental effusions of
religious fervour’.96
The work and holiness emphasis of the Local Preachers’ Association was
reflective of a wider concern within Methodist evangelicalism of the nature and
priority of conversionist evangelism. An article entitled ‘Evangelism, Old and New’,
from the British Methodist Recorder, suggested that the old way of evangelism,
‘proclaiming the good news of what God has done for man in Jesus Christ’, was
incomplete for the post-war era:
Firstly, the old Evangelism was based on a series of rigid contrasts. Saved
and Unsaved, nature and grace, law and gospel, works and faith, the justice
of God and the love of God. These were the categories of the old preachers,
and the distinctions between them were held to be absolute. Now, whilst we
recognise that these distinctions are real, we are coming to see that they are
not absolute.
They tend to pass into one another, and they are not found in their strongly
contrasted forms in the teaching of Jesus. Between ‘saved’ and ‘unsaved’
there is a dim border-land and twilight in which large numbers dwell; in
nature there is grace; the law contains some rudimentary gospel; works
contain the seeds of faith; and justice, as soon as we rise above a purely
legal conception of it, can have no other aim but love.
These contrasts cannot continue to be used in the same rigid way as in the
past, and this will make preaching a more difficult task, for the human mind,
especially on its emotional side loves absolute distinctions.
Secondly, the old Evangelism was in danger of preaching the Cross
93
ACC, 5 December 1919, 574.
ACC, 12 December 1919, 582.
95
See also Chant, The Spirit of Pentecost, 19. Pentecostal work commenced in Adelaide in 1922 and
received impetus following the visit of Smith Wigglesworth in 1922. See Barry Chant, Heart of Fire
(Unley Park, SA: House of Tabor, 1973), 70.
96
ACC, 5 December 1919, 574.
94
227
evangelically without preaching it ethically with the same outspokenness
and range of application…it has had too much to say about holiness, a word
which Jesus rarely uses, and too little to say about service, which is wrought
into the very texture of His teaching…the old Evangelism was not linked
with social service.97
Reprinted as a leading article in the Australian Christian Commonwealth, this article,
despite its British origin, illustrated a shift in theology within South Australian
Methodism. Evangelistic practices would require modification. Concerned
Methodists offered solutions to meet the challenge. Included were H. N. (Rev. J. H.
Nield), who sought to shift the evangelistic focus to a membership engaged in
individual evangelism, and J.W.J. (not known), who claimed that a lack of passion in
preaching contributed to the malaise. ‘Personal confusion’ over once accepted
religious certainties added to the lack of conviction:
When the ministers of our land awake to the utter folly of any other type of
preaching than that which convinces, convicts, and converts men by the
unseen influences of the Spirit working through their own passionate
earnestness, the longed-for revival will be here. But not until then.98
The Rev. Dr. J. E. Carruthers, retiring President of the Australasian General
Conference in early 1920, declared that the ‘old-fashioned fire and fervour’ of
Methodism as ‘Christianity in earnest’ was victim to the denomination’s
‘respectability and conservatism’. According to the President, subtle changes in
theological thinking had contributed to the lack of evangelistic conviction:
Some of the notes that were dominant in the preaching of our fathers fifty
years ago are seldom sounded now. The appeals with which they thrilled
their congregations seem somehow to have lost their force and effectiveness.
In those days the sanctions of heaven and hell were enforced in unwavering,
vivid, and realistic language. For them [fathers] the authority [of the Bible]
was external, legal, and literal. For us it is inward, moral, and spiritual.
Transactional theories of the Atonement, which once were preached with
overwhelming force, awake little or no response in the moral sense of our
generation. Whatever forms Christianity may assume in the future it will not
be the Christianity of the New Testament or of our fathers if it is not built
upon the foundation of Jesus Christ as God manifest in the flesh and the one
Mediator of saving grace to sinful men. 99
Concerned at the lack of revival and evangelistic activity in South Australia, the
97
J. Arundel Chapman, ‘Evangelism, Old and New’, in ACC, 17 September 1920, 387.
J.W.J. ‘Preaching Without Passion’, ACC, 23 July 1920, 259.
99
ACC, 21 May 1920, 117.
98
228
Local Preachers’ and Laymen’s Association initiated the formation of the allied
Intercessory Prayer Union in January 1921 to pray for ‘general spiritual revival’ at
the local, national, and international level. The aim was to link Christians through the
Union to pray for revival, ministers, as well as specific needs, at designated times
such as 7 am and 12 noon.100 Financed by voluntary donations, without the
requirement to meet regularly, members remained linked through Union literature
and the allocation of a membership number for the dissemination of prayer requests.
Within six months, membership grew to 603 (312 men and 291 women), of
whom twenty-nine were ministers. Of the membership, 496 were from Adelaide and
its suburbs, 100 from rural locations, five from other states, and two from overseas.
Members from ‘many denominations’ formed a ‘spiritual union’ of ‘one accord’,
considered necessary for a ‘remarkable revelation of Divine presence and power’.101
Its ethos was dominated by an air of expectancy for a forthcoming revival
accompanied by individual ‘growth in fervency and zeal’. The Union, in its first six
months, made known the type of revival it expected for Australia.102
Unlike the significant leader-led revivals of the past, the Union understood the
next revival to be responsive to the ‘prevailing spirit of the time’. It would be
‘democratic’ in character, working through such groupings of believers as the
Intercessory Prayer Union. Small groups of earnest individuals committed to revival
prayer and soul-saving activity, would generate renewed ‘spiritual life and vigour’
within groups, churches, towns, districts, cities, states, and the nation. A concentric
emanation of Holy Spirit-generated conversionary and revivalist power would draw
unbelievers into the realm of ‘divine influence’, until ‘revival – that which gives
freedom from all sin and brings happiness and heaven to all hearts and home – shall
be realised’.103 It was an attractive formula. The prospect of a national revival within
100
ACC, 18 February 1921, 732; 4 March 1921, 762; 25 March 1921, 815.
ACC, 5 August 1921, 294.
102
ACC, 27 May 1921, 142.
103
ACC, 27 May 1921, 142. ‘Democracy’ in the article is defined as, ‘a power exercised by, or
emanating from, the people’. A significant part of the address given by the Moderator of the
Presbyterian Church in South Australia, at its State Assembly in April 1922, dealt with the topic of
‘revival’. The Moderator claimed that the one order of ministers – presbyters and bishops along with
the ruling elders was ‘the better fitted in every respect to meet the needs of a democratic church’. The
message of historic Presbyterian revivals was consistent with ‘a tender pleading and passionate appeal
to commit the heart and life to Christ in one definite act of surrender and faith. An appeal based on
101
229
reach of the ordinary believer: the power of democratic endeavour harnessed within a
minimalist structure and actuated by Divine agency. It appealed to Methodists, who
were wanting to move on from the citywide revivalist missions of the past, and in
search of a more activist and inclusive movement – a continuing thread within the
democratisation of revivalism stream.
Conclusion
By the early 1920s, it was evident that revivalism had undergone a process of
transformation within Methodism. Although Lionel Fletcher, under wartime
conditions, had demonstrated the continued relevance of the revival, the lack of a
post-war national revival of religion, and increased uncertainty over the role and
place of the revival, saw revivalist practices marginalised within Methodism.
Nevertheless, the emergence of the Methodist Local Preachers’ and Laymen’s
Association and the Intercessory Prayer Union highlighted the significant continued
interest of lay leaders in revival. Moreover, the visits of Smith Wigglesworth (18591947) and Aimee Semple McPherson (1890-1944) to Adelaide in 1922, which we
will consider in the next chapter, demonstrated that the days of the revivalist-led
mission, at least within some sections of the South Australian evangelical world,
were not over.
personal experience, on the deep need of the human heart, and the wonderful efficacy of the atoning
work of Christ’. Whilst both the Intercessory Prayer Union (IPU) and the Local Preachers’
Association shared historic orthodoxy with Presbyterianism in articulating their understanding of the
revival message, they differed on the means by which the revival could be delivered. In 1922, the IPU
understood revival as originating through the agency of individual prayer activity, and delivered by a
democratic process as the revival spread throughout all churches, seemingly devoid of recognised
ecclesiastical oversight. The Presbyterian model understood that ecclesiastical leadership and
governance had a role to exercise in revivalism. See Advertiser, 18 April 1922, 5. The same could be
said of Methodism through its connexional system of denominational administration and oversight.
230
CHAPTER 10
REVIVALISTS, PENTECOSTALS, AND HEALERS 1922 – 1923
The pioneering work of Pentecostalism in South Australia and colonial
Methodism carried between them similar genetic characteristics. Above all, both
embraced popular religious revivals, religious enthusiasm, personal experience, and
the quest for holiness as distinctive characteristics of evangelical piety. Both were
movements from below, driven by an activist lay agency and without external
support. The early Pentecostals embraced religious revivalism as a way of
transforming the individual rather than reconfiguring society and eschewed political
engagement.
By the early 1920s, as Methodism benefited from greater social acceptance and
respectability (but not greater membership), it increasingly questioned the place and
relevance of the religious revival.1 As Methodism adapted to its host environment
and moved toward the cultural centre, the early Pentecostals, despite their distinctive
emphasis on speaking in tongues as the initial evidence of the Baptism of the Spirit,
appealed to Methodist sentiments favoured by the certainties of revivalism and the
interior religion of pre-First World War Methodism.2 In his survey of world
Pentecostalism, David Martin argues that Pentecostalism emerged out of the
Methodist heritage, particularly its holiness tradition.3 Adelaide’s early Pentecostals
appropriated the revivalist dimension of that heritage as they experimented with
revivalism in the early 1920s, while Methodism concentrated on expanding its
physical presence throughout the state. According to Barry Chant, ‘it is not clear’
why Methodism ignored the early Pentecostals, who, in reality, were close cousins to
Wesleyan Methodism:
Unhappily, Methodism for all its revivalist tradition, could not accommodate
these new phenomena [speaking in tongues, healing]…Whether
1
Methodist membership, in the period 1920 to 1924, remained relatively static at around 23,500. See
Appendix 3.
2
Smith Wigglesworth was known for his ‘simple style and direct approach’ to preaching. He often
interspersed his delivery with speaking in tongues and interpretation, as in one of his Adelaide
addresses. See Smith Wigglesworth, ‘The Abiding Spirit’, in Chant, Heart of Fire, 291-296.
3
David Martin, Pentecostalism: The World Their Parish (Oxford: Blackwell, 2002). See also
Hempton, Methodism: Empire of the Spirit, 2, 30-31.
231
Methodism’s failure to accept Pentecostal phenomena…was a conscious
rejection or a general disinterest is not clear; but there seems more evidence
for the latter view. It is apparent that for most Methodists, tongue-speaking
and associated gifts were seen as neither necessary nor beneficial.4
What is clear is that in South Australia in the early 1920s, Methodism still
commanded the allegiance of one quarter of the state’s population, and had the
largest church membership of any denomination (23,020 in 1921). The Anglicans
were next with 18,124 communicant members. The Methodists were only marginally
fewer than the combined membership of the other Protestant denominations:
Baptists, Churches of Christ, Congregationalists, Lutherans, and Presbyterians
(25,943).5 Methodism’s traditional mandate of revivalism and holiness had served it
well.
This chapter examines how Methodism faltered in its commitment to revivalism,
and by default, fostered the emergence of Pentecostalism. This is illustrated by the
visits of Smith Wigglesworth and Aimee Semple McPherson in 1922. Other
denominations experimented in revivalist methods, including the Anglicans, with the
healing mission of James Moore Hickson, and the Churches of Christ, with the
Kellems-Richards mission, both in 1923. Together, these events demonstrated that
other Protestants and Pentecostals could successfully challenge the Methodists in
revival work.
Smith Wigglesworth and the Early Pentecostals
Smith Wigglesworth, the ‘Yorkshire Evangelist’, visited Adelaide in April 1922
to conduct revival missions. Invited to Australia by Janet Lancaster of the
Pentecostal Good News Hall in Melbourne, Wigglesworth conducted revival
missions in both Sydney and Melbourne prior to his arrival in Adelaide.6 A mixture
of appreciative and controversial newspaper reports heralded the arrival of his
‘healing mission’. Wigglesworth held capacity meetings in the Hindmarsh Square
4
Barry Chant, ‘The Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Origins of the Australian Pentecostal
Movement’, in Mark Hutchinson, Edmund Campion, Stuart Piggin, eds., Reviving Australia: Essays
on the History and Experience of Revival and Revivalism in Australian Christianity (Sydney: Centre
for the Study of Australian Christianity, 1994), 105.
5
Vamplew, Australians: Historical Statistics, 424, 429.
6
Chant, Heart of Fire, 67. For Chant’s account of Wigglesworth’s Australian visit in 1922 see 66-70.
232
Protestant Hall.7 One Adelaide daily wrote of Wigglesworth’s work as comprising a
‘message of hope and love for all suffering ones’, while acknowledging the work of
Jesus in effecting ‘deliverance’. It was claimed that physical healings produced by
the ‘apostolic method of anointing with oil and the imposition of hands’ brought
relief in a number of cases.8 A country newspaper under the heading, ‘Pentecostal
Healing’ reported an eyewitness account of having to stand at a crowded
Wigglesworth preaching and healing meeting. Although ‘cripples threw away their
crutches, and invalids of months standing rose up and astounded their friends by
walking’, the correspondent dismissed such outcomes as nothing more than a result
akin to the release of a ‘safety valve of overtried emotions of a world which has
suffered unwontedly throughout the past seven years…Something is wanted to clear
the air of its brooding social melancholy’.9 Another correspondent warned of the
cultish practices of ‘gifts of tongues’ and ‘faith healing’.10
Despite a lack of denominational support for Wigglesworth’s Adelaide mission,
typified by the absence of any official endorsement or publicity in the weekly
Australian Christian Commonwealth, there were reports of healings and conversions,
although not to the extent of the Melbourne mission.11 It is likely that support for
Wigglesworth came from the small but growing Pentecostal presence in Adelaide.
This dates from around 1909 when Thomas James Ames (1858-1928) led the first
assembly, which held meetings at his printing business in Pirie Street.12 The small
group became known as Elim Assembly and Ames remained its leader until 1926.
By the early 1920s, other Pentecostal meetings led by lay men and women were
Chant, Heart of Fire, 70.
Advertiser, 3 March 1922, 7. Other appreciative reports include Register, 25 February 1922, 6; 4
March 1922, 11; Daily Herald, 15 February 1922, 2.
9
Bunyip (Gawler), 31 March 1922, 2-3. A lecture by Mr. H. Scott-Bennett of the Rationalist Society,
advertised as ‘A Visit to the Faith Healers, Casting out Demons in Adelaide, Modern Survivals of
Savage Beliefs’, attempted to discredit Wigglesworth’s visit. See Advertiser, 1 April 1922, 3. ScottBennett was known in Adelaide for his regular attacks on Christianity and the churches, especially the
Methodist Church. For example, see the advertisement of his lecture entitled, ‘The Bankruptcy of the
Churches; a Reply to the President of the Methodist Conference’ in Daily Herald, 8 March 1922, 4,
10
Register, 11 March 1922, 8.
11
Chant, Heart of Fire, 70.
12
Barry Chant, ‘Waters to Swim in: Adelaide’s First Three Pentecostal Churches, 1910-1935’, 2.
http://webjournals.ac.edu.au/journals/aps/issue-8/04-waters-to-swim-in-adelaides-first-three-penteco/
(26 August 2014). This and the following three paragraphs are based on Chant’s work. On the origins
of Australian Pentecostalism see Chant, ‘The Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Origins of the
Australian Pentecostal Movement’, 97-122.
7
8
233
meeting in homes and public buildings in the city and suburbs. One of the leaders,
Fanny Collie, may have had contact with Sarah Jane Lancaster (1858-1934), founder
of Good News Hall in Melbourne, Australia’s earliest Pentecostal assembly. One
account of Lancaster’s life claims that Lancaster visited Adelaide in 1910, preached
on the steps of the General Post Office and influenced Collie, who stopped to hear
her preach. Chant claims that ‘like many early Pentecostals, Collie had a Wesleyan
Methodist background, a body in which her father was much respected’.13
In 1922, Sunday services with around 150 in attendance in Leavitt Hall in
Wakefield Street, Adelaide, formed the nucleus of what later became Apostolic
Mission. A Foursquare Gospel Mission commenced meetings in the Builders’ Hall in
Waymouth Street, Adelaide, in 1924. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit accompanied
with the sign of speaking in tongues (glossolalia) characterised these Pentecostal
meetings. Emphasis on the manifestation of other spiritual gifts, such as prophesying,
healing, and demonic deliverance, often created dissension within Pentecostal ranks,
and provided the justification for warnings issued by various Adelaide clergy. At
times, the early Pentecostals experienced opposition from other churches to their
brand of Christianity. They had little time for the ‘modernism’ and ‘worldliness’ they
observed in the existing established churches. They saw holiness as separation from
all worldly pursuits such as the theatre, dances, fiction, gambling, smoking, and
female adornments such as makeup and cosmetics. This enabled them to find
common ground with many evangelicals of like mind.
The early Pentecostals had some practices similar to the Methodists. These
included tent (camp) meetings, open air evangelistic meetings (Botanic Gardens and
Victoria Square), use of lay and female preachers, small group meetings for spiritual
purposes (class and ‘tarry’ meetings)14, an experiential understanding of conversion
and the work of the Holy Spirit, and the revivalist enthusiasm of ante-Nicene
Montanism.15 There was much common ground but little enthusiasm to be publicly
13
For Chant’s assessment of the Wesleyan Methodism’s contribution to the origins of Australian
Pentecostalism see Chant, ‘The Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Origins of the Australian
Pentecostal Movement’, 97-105.
14
‘Tarry’ meetings focussed on extended prayer time to receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. In
Pentecostal circles, emotionalism often characterised these meetings. See Chant, ‘Waters to Swim in’,
3.
15
Montanism was a fervent apocalypticist movement which emphasised the fulfilment of the
234
identified with each other.
Methodist Revivalism – 1920s
South Australian Methodism in the decade after the conclusion of the First World
War experienced significant growth in the acquisition and development of its
property. Development included the building of new, or the upgrading of existing,
churches, halls, and manses. Together, they were ‘the most striking evidence of
intense Methodist activity’.16 Hunt provides a summary assessment:
From 1920 to 1930, the total expenditure on church property came to
£328,000, and 52 churches and 49 halls were erected.
By 1929 it was estimated that the value of circuit property throughout the
state was £939,000 and the debt on it was less than 11 per cent.
In most years, every district was represented in the list of new buildings or
in the amount spent on ‘enlargements and improvements’.
Not until the 1950s was there again to be such a building boom.17
By contrast, in the same period, there was no parallel boom in conversion additions
to the church’s membership. This increased from 23,115 in 1920 to 26,056 in 1930 at
an average increase of 294 members per year. At the same time, the number of
conversions recorded amounted to 1,079, or an average of 108 per year.18
Conversions represented about one-third of the membership increase. To put it
another way, almost two-thirds of new members accepted in the period 1920 to 1930
were for reasons other than the result of a conversionary experience. Clearly, new
and upgraded buildings and consolidation were markers of progress and
advancement, but the lack of numerical growth through conversion was cause for
concern.
To illustrate the nature of changing perceptions and attitudes to Methodist
revivalist practice and understanding in the 1920s, the year 1922 is a good example.
prophecy concerning the pouring out of the Spirit in the last days (Joel 2:28-32). Its name is derived
from Montanus, known for his revivalist and enthusiastic preaching in the second century. The
common identification of South Australian Methodism and the early Pentecostal assemblies is over
the matter of revivalist enthusiasm, which was a characteristic of both, rather than an over-realised
eschatology based on the Joel prophecy, although individuals at various times probably shared this
eschatological viewpoint. See ‘Montanism’, Alan Richardson, ed., A Dictionary of Christian Theology
(London: SCM, 1976), 223.
16
Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 303.
17
Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 303.
18
See Appendix 3 for figures.
235
We have already drawn attention to the lack of denominational support to the
Wigglesworth evangelistic mission, and the sustained building activity of the 1920s.
Concerns within Methodism over revivalist practices and attitudes was apparent from
the article entitled, ‘A Plea for Evangelism’ by the Rev. W.T. Shapley, published in
January 1922.19 The article consisted of a compilation of quotes from a number of
sources and commentary on the topic of evangelism. A number are included for
illustrative purposes:
During recent years, there has been a decline of evangelism in all the
Churches. Conversions never occur in some Churches. Old methods of
reaching outsiders have been abandoned, and none have been put in their
place.
The neglect of evangelism is due to the spirit of the age. The profoundest
intellectual force in our time has been the doctrine of evolution; it has taught
us to look for God not in the exceptional and miraculous, but in the regular
and ordinary; not in the crisis, but in slow and continuous growth.
When the power of reclaiming the lost dies out of the Church, it ceases to be
the Church.
Organisations have multiplied within the Churches to such an extent that
there is but little time and only exhausted energy left for anything else.
W.T. Shapley
Concerned with the content of the evangelistic message and the conduct of past
evangelistic meetings, Shapley appealed to the respected, and at times controversial
liberal-modernist British Primitive Methodist scholar, Professor A. S. Peake.
Evangelism has a bad name! It is criticized for its theology and its ethics, its
bad taste and its emotionalism.
The evangelist must have a theological basis for his warning and appeals.
The atmosphere of the revival meeting and the personality of the revivalist
are also the stumbling-blocks to many especially in the case of elaborately
organised missions. The preaching is vitiated by unreality and shrivels into
theatrical oratory.
Critics distrust the crisis type of conversion. Evolution has caused them to
prefer a slow, sure, and steady growth.
We must recognise that both types of conversion do occur, and that one is as
legitimate as the other.
The indictment of revivalism has not a little substance in it. But it does not
necessarily follow that evangelism itself is to blame. Christianity can never
be fully true to its nature and its mission, if the evangelistic appeal is
silenced. The revivalist must be ready to revise his views and reform his
methods.20
19
20
ACC, 27 January 1922, 681.
Quotations from the ACC, 27 January 1922, 681. Peake’s one volume, A Commentary on the Bible
236
Through a series of quotations, Shapley affirmed the importance of the Church’s
evangelistic mission, and identified a number of related concerns. First, there was a
stated decline in conversionary activity. The observation is justified in view of the
conversion and membership statistics examined previously, some of which are
included at Appendix 3. Second, Shapley claimed that many leaders had abandoned
the old methods of mass meeting revivalism. Third, evangelistic practice needed
reviewing, including use of language and modes of expression. Fourth, the neglect of
evangelism throughout Methodism was due to the increasing acceptance of the
gradual conversion method as implied in the ‘doctrine of evolution’. Finally, the
priorities of Methodism existed in matters other than evangelism. In some ways,
Shapley presented a realistic assessment of the Church’s state of evangelistic practice
in the early 1920s. On the other hand, it was a brutal and carefully constructed
reckoning on the very heart and soul of Methodism: the saving of souls through
revivalist fervour and conversionary zeal. After all, revivalist Methodism was South
Australia’s evangelicalism writ large. It was a difficult time for Methodism;
evangelistic practices and revivalist preaching were in need of reform.
While Shapley’s views, more for internal than public consumption, aroused
interest in the Church, the Register took a different view. In a generous, and at times
insightful, assessment of the contribution of Methodism to the people of South
Australia on the eve of the 1922 Conference, the editor declared that:
The need for a militant Methodism, inspired by an all-conquering faith in the
living Gospel message, was never more urgent than in this restless age.
Essentially, the mission of Methodism is evangelistic. The troubled world is
in sore need of uplifting messages based on immovable certainties. The
prophetic or preaching office is overwhelmingly indispensable and supreme.
Instead of eclipsing it the social services of the Church must exalt it.21
The declaration by arguably Adelaide’s leading daily newspaper on the primacy of
the evangelistic task of Methodism, was a reassuring note for the proponents of ‘vital
religion’. Four months later, the Australian Christian Commonwealth provided an
editorial assessment of whether the next revival sought should be an ethical one
focussed on ‘philanthropic reform’, or whether it should be a ‘revival of spiritual
was published in 1919. The controversy over the acceptance of the commentary for prescribed study
by ministers on probation within Australian Methodism is discussed in chapter 12.
21
Register, 27 February 1922, 6.
237
religion, through the power of the Holy Ghost’. It noted that neither the much talkedabout ‘purifying’ of the nation as a spiritual consequence of the suffering and
sacrifice of the war had eventuated, nor had the ‘brotherhood of the trenches’
translated into a ‘new order of society’. Only a nation-wide revival of spiritual
religion, declared the editor, could bring about social reform.22
Change the heart, and then change the nation, was a deceptively simple formula:
it assumed that the non-church-goer was attentive to the message of vital religion.
Were the non-churchgoers present in the numbers required to build the momentum of
revival? There is some evidence to suggest that local revivalist meetings no longer
held out the promise of significant conversions. The visit of the Conference
Evangelist to Brighton Methodist Church in October 1921, was typical of missions
elsewhere:
The Sunday services were fairly well attended. Night after night the same
faithful ones came, but beyond the members of the Church we never secured
the presence of more than half a dozen persons on any night, except Sunday.
The missioner spoke of the fine spiritual atmosphere of the Church, and
therefore found it difficult to understand the absence of the non-Church
members.23
Deciding on the type of revival required was one thing; getting people to hear the
gospel was another. The years 1921 and 1922 were amongst the lowest years for
recorded conversions in the 1920s, with only fifty-six and fifty-seven conversions
respectively. The promising signs of re-emerging revivalist tendencies that were
present in the immediate post-war years dissipated by the early 1920s. In some ways,
this reflected a diminished interest and practice of revivalism that occurred in
America in the 1920s.24 Would the prospective visit of Aimee Semple McPherson
(1890-1944) in October 1922 provide the much-needed injection of spiritual
fervour?25
ACC, 9 June 1922, 147.
ACC, 4 November 1921, 508.
24
Jackson, Churches and People in Australia and New Zealand 1860-1930, 60.
25
‘Aimee Semple McPherson, born on a farm in Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada, on 9 October 1890, was
brought up in a Christian home, and underwent a personal conversion at the age of 17 under the
ministry of Pentecostal evangelist Robert Semple, whom she later married. Together they went as
missionaries to China, where Semple died of malaria. After returning to America, Aimee Semple
remarried and expected to settle down. However, her desire to preach and her enjoyment of the public
22
23
238
Aimee Semple McPherson – 1922
As with the visit of Smith Wigglesworth six months earlier, the Methodist
Church, aware of tensions within, chose not to publicise through its denominational
paper McPerson’s mission. Promoted in the Adelaide press as the ‘Canadian Woman
Revivalist’ or the ‘Lady Evangelist’, McPherson, like her Pentecostal predecessor,
came to Australia at the invitation of Janet Lancaster of Good News Hall,
Melbourne.26 Meetings held at the Exhibition Building during the first two weeks of
October 1922 attracted around 400 at first, increasing as her teaching and orthodoxy
gained acceptance to around a few thousand on the final night, which included a
choir of 200 and the Salvation Army Band.27 Like the rural Bible Christian ‘Lady
Evangelists’ of the 1890s, many attended her meetings out of curiosity. 28 McPherson,
however, used that to her own advantage, telling those who did not like to hear a
woman preach: ‘I do not blame you, nor do I; and I do not like to hear a man preach.
I like to hear the Holy Ghost preach’.29
Like some evangelists, she endorsed an over-realised assessment of people’s
need for revivalist religion in the immediate post-war period:
After the great World War, I do not believe there was even an opportunity
for evangelism such as there is today, for untold numbers of people are
longing to shake off the garments of worldliness and to get back with a
mighty surging sweep to the God of the Bible, and back to Jesus Christ.30
The assessment may have been appropriate in other locations the evangelist visited,
arena prompted her to begin evangelistic meetings, which soon proved to be very successful. Large
crowds flocked to hear her stories of the sick being healed. She undertook a transcontinental tour,
from New York to Los Angeles, using a specially decorated latest model ‘gospel car’. Although
avowedly Pentecostal, her charm and poise won her friends in all denominations. The pressure of this
activity made the marriage untenable and in August 1921, she was divorced. By 1922, she had begun
the 5,300 seat Angelus Temple, and had developed her concept of the Foursquare Gospel – Jesus the
Saviour, Jesus the Healer, Jesus the Baptiser in the Holy Spirit and Jesus the soon coming King. She
visited Australia in 1922’. See Chant, The Spirit of Pentecost, 351.
26
Chant, Heart of Fire, 70-78, 71. For Chant’s account of her Adelaide visit, see 70-78. Register, 2
October 1922, 10; Advertiser, 2 October 1922, 11.
27
A testimonial signed by most Melbourne churches and members of the Victorian Council of
Churches at the conclusion of her Melbourne mission no doubt helped to secure her acceptance by
Adelaide mission attendees. See Register, 2 October 1922, 10. Advertiser, 10 October 1922, 13;
Chant, Heart of Fire, 75.
28
Register, 9 October 1922, 7.
29
Register, 2 October 1922, 10.
30
Register, 2 October 1922, 10.
239
but there was no evidence of a ‘mighty surge’ of religious interest in South Australia
in the early 1920s.31 However, such heartfelt opinion resonated with like-minded
evangelicals who were at one with a religious piety that identified with a conversioninspired relationship with Christ, and included a ‘sweeping away of much that
seemed part of everyday life to many – dancing, pictures, entertainments – and even
concerts in aid of church funds’.32
McPherson’s crucicentric preaching and understanding of conversion as the
gateway to vital Christianity appealed to the contingent of evangelical ministers
present at her meetings, and her call for an ‘old-time revival’ no doubt struck a chord
of approval with Methodist ministers in particular.33 However, one correspondent
lamented the lack of support from those churches that were keen to see revival and
yet failed to promote McPherson’s mission among their people.34 Clearly, revival for
some Methodists, though spiritually longed for and prayed for, was best fashioned by
Methodists themselves. As the largest non-Anglican Protestant Church in South
Australia, commanding the adherence of one quarter of the state’s population,
Methodism could afford to ignore the prospect of a fledgling Pentecostal-inspired
revival.
McPherson, keen to maintain widespread inter-denominational support for her
mission, carefully avoided Pentecostal excesses associated with tongues-speaking
and healing.35 Prayers for healing, announced during the main meetings, normally
took place in an annexe adjacent to the meeting room after the service. This enabled
McPherson to maintain a soul-saving emphasis.36 Restrained Pentecostal ‘ejaculatory
responses’ such as ‘Praise God’, ‘Yes, Oh Lord’, and ‘Amen’, often heard during
hymn singing, provided moments of expressive spirituality for some, and occasions
of inquisitive interest for others.37 Some reporters, undoubtedly intrigued by the
31
Adapted from the Biblical story of the encounter between a Samaritan woman and Jesus at Jacob’s
well. See John 4.
32
Register, 9 October 1922, 7.
33
Advertiser, 9 October 1922, 15; 2 October 1922, 11. Methodist minsters present on the platform
included W.H. Cann, W.A. Langsford, Isaac Rooney, and J.H. Williams. See Advertiser, 14 October
1922, 15.
34
Advertiser, 9 October 1922, 15.
35
Orr, Evangelical Awakenings in the South Seas, 155.
36
Chant, Heart of Fire, 75.
37
Register, 9 October 1922, 7.
240
spectacle of a woman revivalist, described her appearance, while one correspondent
to the Register provided a description of her appearance and preaching ability in a
letter entitled, ‘An Impression’:
A sheaf of lilies on her arm, a red rose in her belt showing against her white
dress. She is of rather more than medium height; her dark hair is abundant,
her eyes dark and expressive, her face is placid in expression but her lips
sensitive, and there is a touch of nervous tension in the way she plays with a
pencil.
There is nothing academic about her style; rather she uses humour to an
unusual degree. Her message is intensely personal; the religion she preaches
is personal. If she was not a preacher she could carry an audience with her
by her acting. The story she is telling is driven home by voice, gesture, and
homely allusion. She has strong descriptive power, and a lively talent for
narrative. She works up from the text.38
For Adelaide’s evangelical community, McPherson’s form of mass revivalism,
like every event that preceded it, failed to ignite a national revival of religion. At the
very least, the mission provided a spiritual uplift in the form of professionally
packaged and dramatised religious entertainment. For a few, it proved to be a
moment of life-changing consequence, in which a newfound life became a reality
through the cross-centred and dramatic preaching of the ‘Lady Evangelist’ from
Canada. Some of the mission converts went on to associate themselves with the few
Pentecostal assemblies then in Adelaide. Years later, they looked back with affection
to the time when Aimee Semple McPherson visited their city.39
James Moore Hickson – Healing Mission – 1923
While Aimee Semple McPherson sidelined prayers for healing during her
meetings, the Anglican layman, James Moore Hickson (1868-1933) made prayers for
healing the centrepiece of his worldwide healing tour that began in the United States
in 1919 and concluded in England in 1924.40 His visit to South Australia from 1-14
38
Register, 9 October 1922, 7.
Chant, Heart of Fire, 77. One interesting example of the impact of McPherson on at least one
Methodist (though not a South Australian) is given in Glen O’Brien, ‘“Old Time Methodists” in a
New World: Kingsley Ridgway and A. B. Carson’, Lucas 29 (June 2001): 63-83. Kingsley Mervin
Ridgway (1902-1979) established the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Australia.
40
James Moore Hickson was born 13 August 1868 in Mansfield, Victoria, Australia, the sixth of
thirteen children. He started praying for the sick when fourteen years old. He married Rosalie
Harrison, also from Victoria and from 1901 lived in London. It was about this time that he considered
full-time ministry in the area of healing. With the help of Bishop Mylne he started ‘The Society of
Emmanuel’ in 1905 with the stated role, among others, to restore the healing ministry in the church.
39
241
July 1923 was part of his Australasian tour that concluded in New Zealand.
The visits of Wigglesworth and McPherson in 1922 had already aroused interest
in spiritual healing. The Congregational Union of South Australia, at its half-yearly
meeting in April 1923, heard two papers on the topic of divine healing, one from a
biblical and the other from a medical viewpoint.41 The medical letter acknowledged a
widening gap between scientific medicine and organised religion on the topic of
healing. It also contended that the religious context of spiritual healing occasionally
challenged the emerging ‘authority of rising elites’ such as medical associations.42
There was a divergence of opinion among religious commentators on the
meaning and place of spiritual healing in the churches. For example, the Register
published a letter on ‘Spiritual Healing’ from Victor E. Cromer who commended the
Church of England in its stand toward ‘the main principles of Christ’s teaching’. The
correspondent claimed that a ‘spiritual union with God’ enabled spiritual power to
‘purify the blood stream’ and heal certain conditions.43 A seemingly more orthodox
Methodist correspondent, only known as ‘AS’, made the oft-repeated call for a
‘revival of true religion’ which included the long accepted tenets of salvation and the
baptism of the Holy Ghost. However, the difference between this call and many
others on revival, was that it now included the idea of ‘healing the body’.44 The
He taught and led healing services in England until 1919 when he commenced his worldwide healing
tour (1919-1924), which included Australia in 1923. He worked within the Anglican Church although
his missions often included support from non-Anglican Protestant ministers and many were nondenominational. As well as leading healing missions, Hickson prayed for the sick in hospitals, homes,
mental and disabled institutions, and leper colonies. He prayed for thousands of people and reportedly
witnessed many healings, some instantaneous, the majority gradual. He conducted further missions
overseas to Jamaica, South America, Canada, and Bermuda in the late 1930s, and Ireland in 1930. He
died in England in 1933. He wrote several books including, The Healing of Christ in His Church in
1919, and Heal the Sick in 1924. See biography of James Moore Hickson at
http://healingandrevival.com/BioJMHickson.htm (30 December 2015). For an account of Hickson’s
Adelaide mission see David Hilliard, ‘South Australian Anglicans and Spiritual Healing: The Hickson
Healing Mission of 1923’, Colloquium 16, no. 2 (October 1986), 25-32.
41
Winifred Kiek presented the biblical viewpoint. Dr. F.S. Hone presented a medical viewpoint. See
Register, 25 April 1923, 13.
42
Mark Hutchinson, ‘Healers: James William Wood and the frontiers of religious innovation’, 9. See
http://www.academia.edu/1213196/Healers_James_William_Wood_and_colonial_religious_innovatio
n (30 December 2015). The Western Australian branch of the British Medical Association distanced
itself from Hickson’s mission in that state by directing its members not to ‘actively associate
themselves with the mission’. It would not comment on the value of particular cases of ‘faith healing’
unless the patient was medically assessed prior to, and after ‘treatment by faith healing’. See Register,
25 July 1923, 8.
43
Register, 20 March 1923, 12.
44
ACC, 12 January 1923, 634.
242
dimension of physical healing linked with conversion, at least in the mind of the
correspondent, was not an innovation, but an expression of Methodist revivalist
orthodoxy.45
A month before Hickson began his Adelaide healing mission, the Adelaide
Church Guardian depicted the healing ministry as ‘charismatic ministry’, which,
according to Hilliard, ‘was probably the first time the word ‘charismatic’ was used in
Adelaide Anglican circles’.46 An Anglican Archdeacon had earlier contended that
Hickson possessed the ‘gift of healing’.47 Such reflections demonstrated that
‘charismatic spirituality’ had begun to enter the mainstream of Christian thought. It
was a time of ‘spiritual experimentation’.48
Hickson arrived in Adelaide on 30 June 1923 after visiting Brisbane. Widespread
publicity in the secular as well as religious press preceded his arrival. Hickson’s
missions, it was said, were ‘spiritual revivals for the whole church’.49 Thorough
advanced planning and preparation, typical of other missions, commenced at the
beginning of 1923. It included a crowded meeting in the Adelaide Town Hall two
weeks before the mission began, at which the Bishop of Bathurst, Dr. G.M. Long,
spoke from personal experience, having attended a Hickson mission. Long’s
eyewitness account of the restoration of sight and of hearing, physical healings,
withered hands that ‘came to life’, lame walking, and the ‘tubercular blessed with a
new outlook on life’ was impressive. Published by the Register as ‘GREAT THINGS
EXPECTED, BISHOP LONG ON THE HICKSON MISSION’, and sub-titled, ‘Stories
of Wonderful Cures’, the publicity added to the high level of expectancy present in
45
The Australasian General Conference of the Methodist Church held in May 1923, established a
commission to investigate divine healing as it ‘was a world-wide movement’. The mover of the
motion (Rev. W. Deane – N.S.W.) stated that the work of the Anglican Church in Australia in divine
healing ‘was worthy of emulation’ despite the risk involved. See ACC, 1 June 1923, 16.
46
Cited in David Hilliard, ‘South Australian Anglicans and Spiritual Healing: The Hickson Healing
Mission of 1923’, 28.
47
The claim was made by Archdeacon Samwell in correspondence to the Adelaide Church Guardian.
See Register, 9 January 1923, 8.
48
Mark Hutchison contends that the period 1880-1950, was a time of ‘religious innovation’, and that
‘spiritual healing’ was a sign of ‘charismatic spirituality’. See Mark Hutchinson, Healers, 10. It is
doubtful whether consideration of ‘spiritual healing’ found its way into South Australian Methodism
before 1923.
49
Comment made by the Bishop of Goulburn and referenced by the Bishop of Adelaide. See Register,
12 January 1923, 9.
243
the city.50
South Australian Methodism promoted the mission to its members through its
weekly newspaper.51 It did so in the knowledge that there was widespread and
unprecedented public interest in the mission meetings held previously in Tasmania,
Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland.52 This was due in part to the formalised
acceptance of the healing ministry within the Anglican Church. Within the
worldwide Anglican Communion, the 1920 Lambeth Conference provided a mandate
for the healing ministry. Lambeth cautioned Anglicans against the rise of ‘modern
movements of thought connected with spiritualism, Christian Science, and
theosophy’, which denied the centrality of Christ in their understanding and practice
of spiritual healing.53 To counter these movements, Lambeth urged the clergy to
undergo a thorough study of prayer in order to teach and train people, so that ‘the
power of Christ to heal may be released’.54 Far removed from the perception of a
lone itinerant acting with limited authority and endorsement, Hickson campaigned
under episcopal authority and with the local cooperative support of other Christian
denominations.55 The Lambeth Conference may have affirmed the Anglican
Church’s desire for visible unity and for a restoration of the healing ministry, but it
was the Adelaide Register which boldly stated that divisions within the church
diminished the work of the Spirit in healing:
The church was one, but the flock were scattered, and they had lost their
power through it. They should close up their ranks and be one…The church
was intended to be a divine channel through which the Spirit could perform
its healing power in the bodies and souls of men.56
The Adelaide Mission included healing services at 10 am on Monday, 2 July,
50
Register, 16 June 1923, 10.
See for example, ACC, 16 March 1923, 776; 23 March 1923, 802; 30 March 1923, 807; 4 May
1923, 4; 8 June 1923, 9; 22 June 1923, 3.
52
James Moore Hickson, Heal the Sick (New York: E.P. Dutton and Co., 1924), 155-189. See also,
Register, 29 June 1923, 7.
53
Lambeth Conference 1920, Resolution 55.
http://anglicancommunion.org/acns/archive/1920/in1920.htm (30 December 2015).
54
Lambeth Conference 1920, Resolution 61.
55
Lambeth Conference 1920, Resolution 9 and 10. Resolution 9 set forth ‘the vision and hope of a
visible unity of the whole Church’. Resolution 10 provided a methodology by which this unity might
be achieved – Anglican and other Churches cooperating in common endeavours. The Anglican Bishop
of Adelaide wrote to the heads of other Christian churches seeking their cooperation. See Register, 30
June 1923, 10.
56
Register, 4 July 1923, 9.
51
244
Tuesday, 3 July, Thursday, 5 July, (children), and Friday, 6 July. These services, up
to three hours long, all took place at St. Peter’s Cathedral. A service of Holy
Communion for the sick and their friends occurred on the Wednesday. Up to 950
patients, some able to sit, others in wheel chairs, or on stretchers, assisted by nurses
and attendants were present on each occasion.57 Hickson went on to conduct
missions at Port Pirie on 11 and 12 July, then at Broken Hill, before his departure for
Western Australia. 58
The liturgy included opening hymns such as Just as I am without one plea, and
Thine arm, O Lord, in days of old, followed by silent prayer, another hymn,
Apostles’ Creed, and a brief address by Hickson on the theme of healing. Then
Hickson pronounced a healing blessing over the sick, followed by the individual
laying on of hands in which he was assisted by the Bishop of Adelaide, the Right
Rev. Arthur Nutter Thomas, and other Anglican and Protestant clergy. Following
individual prayer, patients were then moved to an adjacent marquee for
refreshments.59 The Methodist unofficial historian, the Rev. John Blacket, reported
on the occasion in the Register as ‘The Return of Apostolic Days’, and noted the
‘love, sympathy, and tenderness’ of the nurses, the sermon as the ‘embodiment of
sanctified sanity’, and how ‘there was everything to clothe the nerves and calm the
spirit’. ‘Whatever the physical results of the mission may ultimately prove to be’,
remarked Blacket, ‘the services were a great uplift to the soul’.60 Hilliard’s
judgement on the nature of this revival is perceptive:
Many Anglican clergy, who had hitherto been suspicious of revivalism,
found themselves at the centre of a popular movement which went far
beyond the conventional and respectable Church of England. St. Peter’s
Cathedral, for the first time in its history, was the scene of mass religious
fervour.61
Reports of some physical results of the mission appeared in the daily papers,
citing either complete or partial cures. These included the restoration of sight,
57
Register, 4 July 1923, 9.
Register, 29 June 1923, 7.
59
Register, 4 July 1923, 9.
60
Register, 5 July 1923, 9. A recurrent theme in reports of the healing services is a lack of
emotionalism and a quiet orderliness. See Register, 4 July 1923, 9.
61
Hilliard, ‘South Australian Anglicans and Spiritual Healing: The Hickson Healing Mission of
1923’, 31.
58
245
hearing, and voice, partial restoration of the use of a deformed foot, increased
mobility for an invalid, and a returned First World War stretcher-bearer who received
a ‘whole [new] outlook on life’.62 Tabulated results presented at the crowded
Evensong at the Cathedral on 18 July, almost a fortnight after the final healing
service, provided a more detailed picture of the results of the healing mission.63 The
Rev. J. S. Moyes of the organising committee, no doubt pleased with the public
response to the mission and the working of the ‘power of the Spirit’, declared it a
‘great revival’.64 In summary, of the estimated 3,500 attendees, forty-three (1.2 per
cent) claimed cures, 236 (6.7 per cent) partial cures, while eighty (2.3 per cent)
claimed ‘great spiritual and bodily blessing’, and a further twenty-two (0.6 per cent)
‘spiritual blessings’. About eight percent of the 3,500 people who attended the
healing services formally notified church representatives of cures or partial cures. If
we include a 50 per cent portion of the eighty persons who claimed ‘great spiritual
and bodily blessings’ as the ‘bodily’ portion, then the overall percentage of cures or
partial cures for all conditions, apart from ‘spiritual blessings’, amounted to 9.1 per
cent. This is consistent with the figure of 10 per cent for the mission conducted by
Hickson at Palmerston North, New Zealand, in late October, 1923.65
One significant characteristic of the reported healings was the relatively high
number of eyesight and hearing cures. Of the thirty-five documented recovery of
hearing cases, ten (28 per cent) reported a complete cure, while twenty-five (71 per
cent) reported partial cures. Furthermore, of the forty-seven restoration of eyesight
cases, ten (21 per cent) reported a complete cure, while a further thirty-seven (78 per
cent) reported partial cures. These categories were the two largest conditions
reported. Although there is no evidence of medical verification at any stage of the
mission or afterwards, there is no evidence to suggest that mission protocols were not
followed in a thoroughly efficient manner. It would have been too costly and
impractical to examine each patient medically before and after the healing mission,
in order to ascertain medically verifiable cases of healing and the degree of efficacy
62
Register, 5 July 1923, 8; 6 July 1923, 9; 12 July 1923, 9; 16 July 1923, 12.
Register, 19 July 1923, 9.
64
Register, 19 July 1923, 9.
65
A. Fay Farley, ‘A Spiritual Healing Mission Remembered: James Moore Hickson’s Christian
Healing Mission at Palmerston North, New Zealand, 1923’, Journal of Religious History 34, no. 1
(March 2010): 14.
63
246
of spiritual healing.66 Most were content to rely on the testimony of clergy and
church officials.
The mission made a significant and enduring impression on many of those who
assisted or presented themselves for healing prayers. Aside from the physical or
spiritual benefit accrued, there was a wider societal benefit, perhaps underestimated
but no less real. One correspondent, in giving an impression of the Thursday morning
meeting, commented on this aspect:
The view has been expressed that such sights as those on Thursday were too
terrible, that this gathering of sick, sad, and suffering should not be allowed.
But setting aside (if that were possible) the healing and the spiritual side of
the mission, would not the very coming together, the very sympathy, the
actual human kindness, the meeting of those who would not otherwise have
come in contact, the actual lending a hand that fell to the lot of the helpers,
is going to count in the whole life of the community. And, what is more, this
bringing forward of the wounded in the battle of life, the children who
humanly never had a chance, the weak, the feeble-minded – could there be a
more imperative lesson in the absolute duty of making a fight for health part
of religion, a duty of every member of the community?67
It was the view of many Australian bishops and clergy, that ‘an immense amount of
religious good had been done’.68
There were a number of reasons for the mission’s appeal in both the public and
religious domains. One of the most significant was its ecumenically inclusive nature.
Combined religious events had been held in Adelaide for a number of decades, at
least among non-Anglican Protestants. Given the Anglican Church’s historic
inclination to stand aloof from joint religious events, the participation of most
churches enhanced the event’s standing in the eyes of many. It was an Anglicangenerated event which found support from within the evangelical sub-culture, and
emerging Pentecostalism, as well as from the more traditional streams of
Christendom. Second, the mission found favour with those for whom the gospel of
salvation meant little, but for whom the prospect of physical healing meant a lot. The
mission was an opportunity by which anyone, irrespective of religious belief or lack
66
This was the opinion of the Western Australian branch of the British Medical Association. See
Register, 25 July 1923, 8.
67
Register, 6 July 1923, 9.
68
Jackson, Churches and People in Australia and New Zealand 1860-1930, 60.
247
of it, could attend and make sense of a common human need. Third, in the eyes of
many, Hickson was a credible witness. He operated within the agency of the
Anglican Church both local and worldwide, thereby accepting a mantle of authority
and accountability understood within the church and community. A small group of
militant Anglo-Catholic priests did mount a brief public campaign in the media six
months before the mission, on the vexed issue of priestly versus medical authority in
spiritual healing, but further opposition dissipated thereafter.69 Finally, thorough
preparation and promotion enhanced the level of expectancy well before the mission
commenced. This was fostered in both the church and secular press. The latter was
particularly generous in both the content and extent of its coverage. Reports of
healings from earlier missions conducted by Hickson generated both interest and
commitment from among churchgoers in particular. For many in search of healing at
mission meetings, the culmination of their expectant faith occurred during Hickson’s
introductory remarks before the laying on of hands:
He [Hickson] emphasized the importance of the worshippers being of one
heart and mind, so that in their great act of faith they might realise that Jesus
Christ was with them, and was waiting to bless them. 70
Hickson arrived in South Australia at a time of relative stagnation within the
churches; membership had shown little movement in the early 1920s, and
denominational church attendances were lower than before the war.71 Amid the trend
of a decline in Sabbath observance, and increased leisure time for pictures, gambling,
motorcar trips, sport, and picnics, secularism had made inroads into traditional
religion. The prospect of a revival to stem the drift away from the churches made the
Hickson healing mission all the more attractive.
Kellems and Richards Mission – 1923
Adelaide evangelicalism barely had time to catch its breath before the monthlong Churches of Christ-sponsored Kellems-Richards mission commenced on 28
October 1923. The American duo of Dr. Jesse R. Kellems, missioner, and Mr.
69
Hilliard, ‘South Australian Anglicans and Spiritual Healing: The Hickson Healing Mission of
1923’, 28. Correspondence between the Bishop, Canon P.W.C. Wise, and the Rev. F.S. Poole
debating the propriety of Hickson’s healing missions appeared in the Register, 8-15 January 1923.
70
Register, 4 July 1923, 9.
71
See church membership figures in Vamplew, Australians: Historical Statistics, 429.
248
Charles M. Richards, song leader, held nightly evangelistic meetings at the
Exhibition Building with the support of a 300-strong choir. Kellems spoke of his
conviction of a forthcoming religious revival and the importance of personal
conversion. Attendances averaged 1,500 on week-nights and 3,500 on Sunday
evenings.72 The mission secured 475 confessions, and 300 baptisms by full
immersion.73 Churches of Christ membership increased by 492 (6,868 to 7,360) in
the following year, the largest increase recorded in the period 1915 to 1928.74 It
seemed as though the Methodist mandate on Protestant revivalism in South Australia
was under threat.
Conclusion
As Methodist revivalism faltered in the early 1920s, interest in, and the practice
of, revivalism carried over to others within evangelicalism. Visits by Smith
Wigglesworth and Aimee Semple McPherson not only maintained an emphasis on
mass revivalism and conversion, but introduced three elements of religious thought
and practice which began to differentiate an emerging Pentecostal identity from
evangelicalism, and Methodism in particular. They were: the Baptism of the Holy
Spirit with an associated sign of speaking in tongues; the use of spiritual gifts; and
the healing ministry. Collectively, they fragmented evangelical understandings, but
they helped to define the development of Pentecostalism and the emergence of the
charismatic movement in the 1960s and 1970s, as they became the devotional and
practitioning markers of Pentecostal ‘lived religion’.75
The independent scholar, Donald Dayton, asserts that ‘Pentecostalism cannot be
understood apart from its deep roots in the Methodist experience, and Methodism
similarly cannot be understood entirely without acknowledgement of this paternity’;
a relationship that he suggests ‘has often been suppressed in official
Register, 29 October 1923, 11.
Register, 24 November 1923, 18; 26 November 1923, 13.
74
H. R. Taylor, The Story of a Century: A Record of the Churches of Christ Religious Movement in
South Australia 1846-1946 (Melbourne: Austral, n.d.), 80.
75
The theme of ‘lived religion’, a phrase well known within the French tradition of the sociology of
religion, forms the guiding rationale for a series of essays on religion as practised by ordinary men and
women in America. See David D. Hall, ed., Lived Religion in America: Toward a History of Practice
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997).
72
73
249
historiography’.76 The Australian Pentecostal historian, Barry Chant acknowledges
the historical relationship when he states that Methodism (among other forms of
evangelicalism) is an ‘antecedent of Pentecostalism’, and rightly claims that in
Australia, ‘it was the Methodists, especially the Wesleyans, who pioneered Christian
revival’.77 In the early 1920s, South Australian Methodism, once the ‘Protestant light
cavalry’ in revival and gospel proclamation,78 faltered in its commitment to
revivalism, and was unimpressed by the emerging Pentecostal variant of revival
activity. By default, it opened the way for the emergence and consolidation of an
independent Pentecostal movement. Methodism was evolving, with continuing
mixed views on the once held traditional shibboleth of revivalism.79
76
Donald W. Dayton, ‘Methodism and Pentecostalism’, in William J. Abraham and James E. Kirby,
eds., The Oxford Handbook of Methodist Studies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 171.
77
Chant, The Spirit of Pentecost: The Origins and Development of the Pentecostal Movement in
Australia 1870-1939, 19, 28.
78
Brian Dickey ed., The Australian Dictionary of Evangelical Biography (Sydney: Evangelical
History Association, 1994), ix.
79
The traditional Methodist emphasis on its revivalist ethos continued to survive throughout the
remaining history of the denomination through to the formation of the Uniting Church in Australia in
1977. The formation of various unofficial Evangelical Fellowships throughout Australian Methodism
in the 1960s and early 1970s, such as the Aldersgate Fellowship for Revival in South Australia which
promoted renewal and revival within the church, indicated that many believed the revivalist heritage
continued to be marginalised. See Peter J. Blackburn, ‘The National Fellowship for Revival’ at
http://peterjblackburn.net/revival/nffr.htm (30 December 2015).
250
CHAPTER 11
REVIVALISM FALTERS 1920S
In 1923 and 1924, with the hope of the much-anticipated post-War revival long
since confined to the collective memory of its aspirants, the Methodist Church set
about stimulating growth by conducting planned simultaneous evangelistic missions.
In the face of a near-static membership, a decade-long decline in church attendance
(arrested only in 1922), a corresponding decline in Christian Endeavour since its
peak in 1909, and a Sunday school stabilised at around 33,500 since its peak of
36,850 in 1900, Methodism once again declared the need for a ‘great aggressive
evangelistic campaign’.1 According to a correspondent in the Methodist paper:
The church’s greatest need today is not giving first place to day-school,
kindergartens, clubs, hospital schemes, and a rest home in Mount Barker. It
is not bazaars, socials, prohibition, and Protestant federation and Sunday
specials, but is a revival of true religion. Oh, yes! We want revival.2
This chapter examines how the Methodist Church in the 1920s continued to struggle
over the relevance of revivalism for generating conversionary growth. ‘Simultaneous
Missions’ in 1923 and 1924, and the ‘Spiritual Advance Crusade’ of 1928 were the
most significant Methodist attempts at mass evangelism during this decade. The
early work of the newly formed Evangelisation Society in South Australia, which
relied on significant Methodist support, is examined as well. The chapter highlights
the continued ambivalence within the Methodist Church with regard to the practice
of revivalism by focussing on the relevant issues discussed in the church’s weekly
paper, the Australian Christian Commonwealth.
Simultaneous Missions – 1923 and 1924
The plan was ambitious: concerted rolling evangelistic campaign targeting
twenty-two city churches, four churches at a time of ten-days duration, commenced
in mid-June 1923 and concluded at the end of August. Designated local ministers
became missioners, assisted by other circuit representatives and members of the
1
2
ACC, 11 May 1923, 5.
ACC, 12 January 1923, 634.
251
Local Preachers’ and Laymen’s Association, for the ten-day simultaneous missions.3
According to the 1921 census, there were more than 40,000 self-described
Methodists who were not known to be church members or adherents. They declared
themselves as ‘Methodists’ on census returns, but did not become members of a local
Methodist church. The crusade attempted to regain some of the ‘missing’ 40,000,
some of whom may have been irregular churchgoers. The Register called it a
‘notable evangelistic effort’.4
Mission events in city and suburban churches included nightly addresses, special
gospel singing and Sunday school services, a men’s meeting, prayer meetings, and
fellowship meetings to conserve the gains of the mission. Overseen by a committee
of ten ministers and ten laymen, the crusade commenced on 10 June 1923 amid cold,
wet and squally conditions. The Australian Christian Commonwealth issued a plea to
all Methodists to attend mission meetings and to bring a friend along.5 Mission
planners, hoping to capture some of the interest created by the Hickson healing
mission, issued promising early reports:6 ‘A deeper spiritual experience’; ‘great
earnestness on the part of the people’; ‘messages packed full of good, wholesome
and stirring truth’; ‘spirit of expectation is growing’; and the raison d’être, ‘We are
on the eve of a mighty Revival’.7 As the hoped for conversions failed to materialise,
mission reports became less inspirational and more measured in tone. One report was
representative:
We are not able to report big crowds, and a long list of converts, but there is
a general feeling that the Church’s work is being consolidated, and the
spiritual life intensified…The Church has been revived up to a point, but
many of the unconverted who attend the services have not been arrested.
They have ‘fought shy’ of it all. As for the outsider, so far he has not shown
any sign that he has been even impressed.8
Once again, the Methodist Church, with its long-held view and once unshaken
belief in the efficacy of evangelical revivalism for individual and social reform,
coupled with its efficient connexional administration, could only wonder at the ‘spirit
3
ACC, 11 May 1923, 5.
Register, 2 June 1923, 14.
5
ACC, 15 June 1923, 3.
6
ACC, 13 July 1923, 9.
7
ACC, 6 July 1923, 15; 13 July 1923, 9; 20 July 1923, 11; 27 July 1923, 9.
8
ACC, 17 August 1923, 7.
4
252
of indifference’ encountered during the crusade.9 The church believed and declared
its message, but it made little difference to the missing 40,000.
Missions conducted in 1924 had similar outcomes. Despite the additional use of
preaching bands in 1924, there were few conversions reported. Most of those who
attended services were regular churchgoers. One of the few mission locations
reported on, and probably the most successful, was the evangelistic mission at
Brompton in August that secured eleven conversions and up to one-hundred Sunday
school decisions. 10 State-wide evangelistic missions conducted along similar lines in
Queensland during 1924 also yielded similar results: some reported conversions, but
little contact with the ‘outsider’.11 The home-grown and local evangelistic mission
was proving ineffective in moving beyond the bounds of the Methodist constituency.
Would the American led Biederwolf-Rodeheaver Mission achieve what the local
Methodist Church wanted, but was unable to deliver – a great spiritual revival?
Biederwolf and Rodeheaver Mission – 1924
The Americans, Dr. W.E. Biederwolf, Presbyterian evangelist, and Homer
Rodeheaver, song leader, conducted an evangelistic mission in Adelaide from 24
February to 3 March 1924. The mission took place under the auspices of the
Evangelisation Society of South Australia, with the local committee chaired by the
minister of Chalmers Presbyterian Church, the Rev. Dr. J. A. Seymour. The mission
was similar in format and style to the Alexander and Chapman mission twelve years
earlier, with evangelist, song leader, a 200-voice choir, mission music, representative
support of the Protestant denominations, weekend meetings in the Exhibition
Building, weekday businessmen’s meetings, women’s meetings, and evening
meetings in the Town Hall.12 The mission secured 267 ‘decisions’ for Christ and 213
‘re-consecrations’, the details of which were made available to the appropriate
churches.13
The Methodist Church gave limited support to the mission. This may have been
9
ACC, 7 September 1923, 9.
ACC, 29 August 1924, 14.
11
ACC, 5 December 1924, 6.
12
ACC, 11 January 1924, 14; 25 January 1924, 13; 8 February 1924, 10.
13
ACC, 21 March 9124, 15.
10
253
because of the mission’s Presbyterian connections, minimal administrative input
beyond official representative status, and the growing uncertainty as to the place and
role of the large mission to deliver the scale of revival needed to reform society. The
Methodist connection to the mission was through the active participation of six
members of the Methodist Local Preachers’ and Laymen’s Association (MLPLA),
appointed to the organising committee by the Evangelisation Society of South
Australia. 14 They were an energetic cadre of Methodist laymen; instructed and
equipped through years of preaching and leadership among their own. There was
minimal coverage in the Australian Christian Commonwealth, apart from the
MLPLA column. The Evangelisation Society promoted the mission through its own
publication, The Revivalist, which issued two special editions about the mission, one
before it opened and the other after it ended.15 Furthermore, there was no Methodist
representative appointed to the official welcome event held at the YMCA’s Victoria
Hall, and Pirie Street Methodist Church, used for opening services during numerous
previous missions, played no part in mission meetings.16 Biederwolf preached at
Chalmers Church on the Sunday morning the mission commenced.17 The Methodist
Conference was left to tolerate informal Methodist linkages to the mission through
the emerging entrepreneurship and enthusiasm of the lay-empowered Evangelisation
Society of South Australia. However, South Australian Methodism was still
confident in its own ability to mission the state, and believed it possessed the
resources to do so, provided they could be organised on a ‘war footing’.18 Such a
belief precluded denominational subjection to the similar aims and purposes of an
evangelistic society.
Evangelisation Society of South Australia
The Evangelisation Society of South Australia, a cooperative agency promoting
14
ACC, 25 January 1924, 13. The six members were A. Langsford (President), H.G. Humphries
(Secretary), F.W. Thrum, H. Pope, R. Hoepner, and E. Cutler.
15
ACC, 15 February 1924, 13; 14 March 1924, 13.
16
ACC, 29 February 1924, 14. Those who recorded addresses of welcome included, the Rev. Dr.
Seymour (Presbyterian), Mr. Walter Hutley (Chairman of the Congregational Union), Mr. P. Barbour
(President Baptist Union), Colonel Sharp (Salvation Army), Pastor W. Beiler (Churches of Christ),
and the Rev. W.G. Marsh (denomination not stated).
17
ACC, 29 February 1924, 14.
18
ACC, 12 December 1924, 3.
254
the work of evangelism, was founded in Adelaide on 9 February 1921.19 The first
President was the Rev. Dr. J. A. Seymour, known for his enthusiasm for evangelism,
with Mr. S. R. Barrett as the first secretary. 20 The object of the Society was ‘to
cooperate with churches and other Christian organisations in stimulating the spirit of
evangelism throughout the state’.21 The first evangelist employed by the Society was
the Rev. Edgar Miller, a Methodist minister who resigned from the Methodist
ministry to take up the appointment in March 1922.22 He conducted at least fourteen
missions during his first seven months with the Society. These included missions at
Magill, Norwood, and Halifax Street Baptist Churches, and Hindmarsh Square and
Edwardstown Congregational Churches.23 Miller concluded his work with the
Society in March 1923 and moved to Western Australia in the middle of that year,
after which the Rev. G. R. Brown, also a Methodist minister, accepted the
appointment as Society evangelist, a position he held for the next twenty-one years.24
The work of the Society in the early 1920s was one of evangelistic initiatives
familiar to the ‘forward movements’ within Methodism. These included tent
missions, open-air meetings, indoor evangelistic meetings, factory and school lunch-
19
The records for the Evangelisation Society of South Australia are located at the State Library of
South Australia. See SRG 452. Copies of the Evangelical Witness, official organ of the Society,
commencing with issue no. 1 in December 1932, are held by the library. See Number 269 E92a.
20
Advertiser, 18 October 1922, 15; ACC, 29 February 1924, 14. A published account of the Society’s
first 23 years is Robert Evans, The Evangelisation Society of Australasia: The Second Period 1919 to
1945 (Hazelbrook, NSW: Robert Evans, 2011), 288-301. Online at
http://revivals.arkangles.com/docs/EvangelisationSocietyofAustralasiaBook2.pdf (1 January 2016).
The Evangelisation Society began in England in 1864. See David Bebbington, Evangelicalism in
Modern Britain, 120. Mr. S. R. Barrett was one of the ‘Barrett Brothers’, a team of lay-evangelists,
active in leading evangelistic missions in the Methodist Church since 1899. See thesis chapter 7. S. R.
Barrett was also a joint-founder of the Adelaide Bible Institute in 1924. On Barrett, see also John
David Calvert, ‘A History of the Adelaide Bible Institute (ABI) 1924-1962’, (MA Thesis, University
of South Australia, 2000), 32-33; 62-63.
21
ACC, 23 June 1922, 189. The object was included in the first edition of the Society’s quarterly
magazine. See Evangelical Witness, December 1932.
22
Advertiser, 18 October 1922, 15; 25 February 1925, 12. It is likely that Miller resigned because he
did not receive Conference approval to enable him to work with another agency while retaining his
Methodist membership. In the following year, G. R. Brown commenced work with the Society and
retained his Methodist ministerial status. Miller was re-admitted to the Methodist ministry at the
annual Conference in February 1925.
23
Advertiser, 18 October 1922, 15; Register, 6 May 1922, 12.
24
ACC, 27 July 1923, 9. G.R. Brown was ordained in February 1921 after commencing circuit work
in 1917. He received Conference approval to labour with the Evangelisation Society from 1923 to
1928, after which he was required to return to circuit work. Brown resigned from the Methodist
Church to continue his work with the Evangelisation Society. See Evans, The Evangelisation Society
of Australasia, 289-290; 301; Advertiser, 12 October 1928, 16.
255
hour visits.25 Summing up a typical year’s work at the annual meeting in October
1926, George Brown described the extent of the work as including 936 city and
country meetings, 506 conversions, and 696 reconsecrations, in addition to 600 child
conversions. Some of the evangelistic meetings took place at Botanic Park on
Sunday afternoons, prayer meetings at the YMCA on Saturday nights, as well as
factory and street preaching gatherings.26 By comparison, the Methodist Church in
1926, secured 117 recorded conversions and reported an increase of 322 (24,187 to
24,509) members.27 In 1926, the Evangelisation Society of South Australia, with one
full-time evangelist and two volunteer staff, managed to secure more than four times
the number of converts than the 182 ministers and 823 local preachers utilising the
resources of 493 Methodist churches.28 It took the Methodist Church another eight
years to match the Society’s 1926 figure.29
Methodist representation in the management of the Society extended beyond the
support provided by six Methodist Local Preachers to the Biederwolf-Rodeheaver
Mission, and the appointment of the first two evangelists. For example, the Society’s
Council of Reference for 1925 included the Rev W. H. Cann and Lady Holder. In
1932, the Council again included the Methodist minister W. H. Cann, evangelist the
Rev. D. T. Reddin, and prominent Methodist laymen, R. Hoepner and A. E.
Clarkson. Lady Holder was a Vice President and Mr. S. R. Barrett Honorary
Secretary.30
25
ACC, 21 August 1925, 15.
Advertiser, 27 October 1926, 20.
27
See Appendix 3 for figures.
28
The 182 ministers include Supernumeraries and Preachers on Probation. Figures from Minutes of
South Australia Conference, 1927, 180. The two volunteer staff were Commander H.W. Harvey, a
retired British naval officer and children’s evangelist, and Miss L.A. Robinson M.A. who worked with
women and children. See Advertiser, 16 May 1925, 16; ACC, 21 August 1925, 15.
29
Figures extracted from Appendix 3. In the same period, the number of conversions accounted for
approximately one-third of the membership increase.
30
Advertiser, 21 February 1925, 19; Evangelical Witness, December 1932. Lady Holder was the wife
of Sir Frederick William Holder (1850-1909), parliamentarian and Methodist lay preacher. Lady
Holder was active in Methodist circles and later as Australian president of the Woman’s Christian
Temperance Union. She campaigned for temperance and against gambling. See Ralph Harry, ‘Holder,
Sir Frederick William (1850-1909)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography,
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/holder-sir-frederick-william-6706 (1 January 2016). A report on the
opening of the Holder Memorial Methodist Church, West Adelaide which includes a tribute to Lady
Holder is in the Advertiser, 18 January 1915, 9. W.H. Cann and D.T. Reddin were evangelists. Cann
was Superintendent of the Adelaide Central Methodist Mission, 1911-1929. Reddin was the Methodist
Conference evangelist, 1919-1920. A.E. Clarkson was Secretary of the Methodist Local Preachers’
26
256
As the Evangelisation Society strengthened its evangelistic work, aided by
Methodist ministers and laymen, the Methodist Conference discontinued the work of
the Conference evangelist.31 The Methodist Conference in February 1923 elected not
to re-appoint one of its ministers as Conference Evangelist, opting instead for a
program of inter-circuit pulpit exchanges. Predictably, this decision met with ‘great
regret to many’.32 A. E. Clarkson probably represented the views of many,
particularly the lay preachers present at the Conference, when, during the debate on
‘The Work of God’, it is reported that:
He [Clarkson] wondered whether they were alive to the value of their
membership. He was interested in the lay preachers’ movement, and had
observed a tremendous amount of waste material. He had seen some
wonderful buildings not far away that were shut from Sunday to Sunday.
There were men of real ability who were not sufficiently made use of by the
Church…Methodism should be built on the use of the lay life. Personal
evangelism should be the key-note, and he saw today as never before, the
value of the individual in the Church’s life. The job was not only the
minister’s; it belonged to them all. He prayed that Methodism would
become a vital living force.33
Clarkson represented the views of a growing, prosperous and articulate Methodist
middle class who were faithful and loyal to the revivalist-holiness tradition of the
Methodist Church, but at times felt frustrated by what they saw as the numbing hand
of Connexional denominationalism and creeping anti-revivalism.34 They were men
with organisational and administrative skills, even dispositions and practical
objectives. Agencies such as the Local Preachers’ and Laymen’s Association,
Intercessory Prayer Union, the newly formed Evangelisation Society, and the
Adelaide Bible Institute (1924), provided additional freedom to exercise lay-agency,
albeit within the broad bounds of, and at times lesser institutionalism.35
and Laymen’s Association 1920-1925, and President 1928-1935. R.T. Hoepner was Secretary 192627.
31
The Conference evangelist was re-introduced in 1939 with the appointment of the Rev. E. N.
Broomhead. See thesis chapter 12.
32
ACC, 27 April 1923, 6. The next Conference Evangelist was the Rev. E.N. Broomhead, appointed
in 1939.
33
ACC, 9 March 1923, 763.
34
The revivalist-holiness tradition meant that Methodist members of the Local Preachers’ and
Laymen’s Association often identified closely with the Salvation Army, and led the occasional
holiness and evangelistic weekend mission for them. See for example, ACC, 30 November 1923, 13.
35
On the history of the Adelaide Bible Institute, see Calvert, ‘A History of the Adelaide Bible
Institute (ABI) 1924-1962’, 2000. The Methodist local preacher A. Langsford was a member of the
257
During the 1920s, the Society managed to conduct evangelistic missions and
events in most Protestant denominations, as well as in non-church facilities.
Methodism relied on the less-than-effective self-run Simultaneous Missions in 1923
and 1924 to maintain revivalist activity. It was the visit of Rodney ‘Gipsy’ Smith in
May 1926 that provided a much-needed spiritual boost to Protestant evangelicalism,
and Methodism in particular.
Rodney ‘Gipsy’ Smith Mission – May 1926
The visit of ‘Gipsy’ Smith to Adelaide in 1926 was his second, for he had been
once before, in 1894 when he was aged 34. His arrival in Adelaide on that occasion,
without adequate introduction and unannounced, was met with cool indifference. It
had been arranged on the strength of a previous meeting in the United States with
Chief Justice Samuel Way. 36 Reasonably well known as an effective evangelist
through secular and religious press, Smith held revivalist meetings in Franklin Street
Bible Christian and Archer Street Wesleyan churches, where some 580 persons
passed through the enquiry rooms.37 Converted when a boy in one of those Archer
Street meetings in 1894, was Arthur B. Lloyd, who, at the time of Smith’s visit in
1926, was the Methodist minister appointed to Archer Street.38
Smith’s lasting impression on appreciative Methodists motivated the Conference
to pass resolutions of support for a return visit to Australia. Resolutions of support
were passed in 1906, 1911, 1913, and in 1925, fifteen months before Smith’s 1926
visit.39 The 1925 Conference resolution to ‘cordially co-operate’ with the invitation
for Smith to visit South Australia masked the tensions within Methodism over the
purpose and place of revivals in church and national life. 40 Despite the resolutions,
first Council of Reference in 1924, and another local preacher, R. Hoepner was one of the first tutors.
See Calvert, 63.
36
Gipsy Smith, Gipsy Smith: His Life and Work (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1909), 258-259.
37
CW&MJ, 29 June 1894, 3; SABCMon, July 1894, 79.
38
ACC, 21 May 1926, 3.
39
See resolutions for ‘Gipsy Smith’ in Methodist Church of Australasia, Minutes of South Australia
Conference, 1906, 1911, 1913, 1925. For a comprehensive account of Smith’s Australian visit in
1926, see Walter Phillips, ‘Gipsy Smith in Australia in 1926: the Commonwealth Evangelistic
Campaign’, in Mark Hutchinson, Edmund Campion, Stuart Piggin, eds., Reviving Australia: Essays
on the History and Experience of Revival and Revivalism in Australian Christianity (Sydney: Centre
for the Study of Australian Christianity, 1994), 185-201.
40
Methodist Church of Australasia, Minutes of South Australia Conference, February 1925, 146.
258
some representatives to the 1926 Conference considered that discussion on the Smith
mission was inadequate.41 In February 1926, three months before ‘Gipsy’ Smith’s
expected arrival, an editorial in the Australian Christian Commonwealth, while
expressing a favourable view, attempted to summarise the key points:
In many minds there is a deep-seated distrust of special missions, together
with a fear that the results are not commensurate with the effort. In our
judgment, indifference is the chief obstacle to the people enjoying the
spiritual birthright of pardon through faith in Jesus Christ.
We believe that some spectacular extraordinary effort is now needed to
challenge attention and provoke thought.
It is sometimes laid as a charge against the Church that too much attention is
devoted to social reform. 42
A revival, the editor outlined, must arouse a ‘conviction of sin’ and a ‘conception of
holiness’, strengthen the faith of believers, generate a revival of worship, and create
fellowship which then leads into service. Christianity, it was claimed, ‘is a social
faith – it is individual in its inception but social in its application’.43 The editor’s
analysis highlighted four sociological dimensions to a revival of religion: individual,
institutional, communal, and societal. Together, these four dimensions make people
and society better. Theologically, the process begins with the conversion of the
individual:
For a revival we pray, that will magnify the grace of God in our midst so
that thousands may behold His love in Jesus, and find in Him a Saviour from
all sin.44
Set in the context of internal debate, the editor affirmed the historic narrative of
Methodist revivalism, that its ‘original sphere of action was finding the supernatural
in the fabric of everyday life’, despite the disquiet of those who questioned the
relevance of the narrative. 45
The editor of the Methodist paper was not alone in responding to the level of
41
ACC, 26 March 1926, 15.
ACC, 5 February 1926, 3.
43
ACC, 5 February 1926, 3.
44
ACC, 5 February 1926, 3.
45
Martin, Pentecostalism: The World Their Parish, 7.
42
259
unease on the topic of revivals. The editor of the South Australian Congregationalist,
noting the denomination’s appeal with the ‘middle and wealthier classes’, questioned
the emphasis revivals often gave to the emotions.46 An unexpected atypical coalition
emerged when the Adelaide Register invited the Methodist minister the Rev. Enoch
Gratton (1838-1931) to contribute an article on the subject. Gratton’s long and
spirited defence of revivals and their historic importance, entitled, ‘Gipsy Smith and
Religious Revivals’, appeared in the Saturday edition. Aged 88, the highly respected
senior minister began his article by stating the problem:
Many thoughtful persons regard with distrust or cold indifference services
such as Gipsy Smith is expected to conduct in Adelaide. Some sincere
Christians prefer that religion should advance quietly and evenly, not by
‘leaps and bounds’, which are often followed by stagnation or death. They
object to excitement, yet desire progress, but prefer that it should be steady
and unvarying. 47
Gratton methodically dealt with a number of objections that included backsliding,
perceived lack of scholarship on the part of the revivalist, and revivalist practices. An
appeal to the work of the evangelists John Wesley, William Booth, Dwight Moody,
and ‘Gipsy’ Smith sought to re-affirm the continuing role of the revivalist. Gratton
could not conceive of Methodism without revivalism, and sought to convince others
of its merits. It was an unusual alliance: South Australia’s leading newspaper through
the agency of a Methodist author, acted to preserve the interests of a section of the
religious community that was committed to the spirit of historic revivalism as a
means of conversion.
Possibly aware of the tensions surrounding his visit, ‘Gypsy’ Smith addressed the
topic of revival in his first mission sermon. Four thousand people and a choir of 600
voices filled the Exhibition Building on Sunday 9 May 1926 to welcome the long
awaited evangelist. The kind of revival that interested Smith was a revival of
practical and family religion ‘that would take the ugliness out of life, and replace it
with magnanimity, charm, winsomeness, honour, truth, love, manhood, and
46
South Australian Congregationalist, May 1926, 66; August 1927, 162.
Register, 17 April 1926, 4. Gratton was in the 64th year of his ministry, second in length of service
and age to the Rev. T. Piper who at 91 years of age had been in the ministry for 68 years. See ACC, 16
March 1928, 3.
47
260
womanhood’.48 Designed to avoid the superficialities of hair-splitting doctrinal
discussion, the statement energised the crowd with a vision for revival that even the
most hardened opponent would find difficult to resist.
In South Australia, the ‘Gipsy’ Smith Commonwealth Evangelistic Campaign
organising committee, with representation from the Council of Churches in South
Australia, controlled all matters associated with the visit. Most denominations had
representatives on the committee, with the Evangelisation Society in particular well
represented on the executive by its president, the Rev. Dr. J. A. Seymour, who with
the Baptist, the Rev. H. Escourt Hughes, acted as joint presidents. Commander H. W.
Harvey also from the Society, acted as a co-secretary. Of the thirteen other members
of the Gipsy Smith committee, five were Methodist ministers: B. Wibberley
(President of Conference), W. H. Cann, W. T. Shapley, R. E. Stanley, and G. R.
Brown (Evangelisation Society’s evangelist). Methodist lay preacher S. R. Barrett
was also a member of the Evangelisation Society.49 Overly represented on the Smith
mission executive, the Evangelisation Society joined with the traditional historic, but
increasingly divided flag-bearer of South Australian revivalism, the Methodist
Church, in furthering the interests of mass soul-winning.
During his two and a half weeks in Adelaide, ‘Gipsy’ Smith spoke each night to
over 4,000 people at the Exhibition Building. Supported by the choir and the musical
accompaniment of Edward Young, representatives of the participating churches on
the platform, and an appreciative press, Smith, in his customary bright and breezy
manner, preached and entertained amid scenes of great enthusiasm.50 Capacity
crowds at the 1,200-seat Pirie Street Methodist Church heard representative speakers
from the various churches as well as Gipsy Smith in the lunch-hour meetings
designed for busy workers. Speakers included the Methodist evangelists W. H. Cann,
of the Adelaide Central Methodist Mission, and G. R. Brown of the Evangelisation
Society, as well as Dr. J. A. Seymour the energetic president of the Society and
minister of Chalmers Church.51
48
Register, 10 May 1926, 8.
ACC, 5 May 1926, 13; 18 May 1926, 8.
50
Register, 10 May 1923, 8; 15 May 1926, 3.
51
ACC, 30 April 1926, 9; Register, 12 May 1926, 12.
49
261
Reminiscent of the Chapman-Alexander mission fourteen years earlier, the
meetings were ‘bright’ and cheerful, aided by specially prepared mission songs.
Gipsy’s ‘happy manner’, the blend of humour, ‘pretty wit’ and pathos combined with
‘beautifully expressive and flowing speech, his dramatic declamation, tender
pleading, homely advice, fiery exhortation, and inspiring singing’, enthralled his
hearers.52
Any debate over the relevance of the revivalist meeting was completely missing
from one of the largest gatherings held at the Exhibition Building, when exservicemen attended the invitation-only meeting. With special seating at capacity,
hundreds standing, and those maimed by war seated at the front, Smith recounted his
experience as a YMCA worker during the Great War:
One minute the audience was convulsed with laughter at some witty sally,
then again men and women sobbed audibly and hundreds wiped the tears
from their eyes. When the old question was put, ‘Are we down-hearted?’
there came a thunderous ‘No!’ from the audience. Gipsy, in an interesting
fashion, told how he sold cigarettes, though he never smoked, and gave out
coffee for the glory of God.53
Earlier in the mission during his opening address, he reported how he:
For three and a half years went down into the mud and blood with the boys,
who were as my own sons. When they were dying I brought them back to
consciousness in the only possible way in such circumstances. I kissed them
as their mothers would have done, and then prayed for them until the end.54
It may have been a moment of expressive sentimentality, but for the returned
soldiers, living with their emotional, spiritual, and physical scars, the powerful
connections between ‘vital religion’ and the demons of war offered up a moment of
divine tenderness. They had been living since the war in the knowledge of a gap that
separated them from those who remained. For some, the ‘gap we couldn’t forget and
the others couldn’t bridge’ may have closed a little.55
In any event, the presence of Brigadier-General Weir, representing the Army, and
Commander Harvey the Navy, on the platform somehow completed the returned
52
Register, 12 May 1926, 12; 13 May 1926, 8; 14 May 1926, 14; ACC, 14 May 1926, 3.
ACC, 28 May 1926, 3.
54
Register, 10 May 1926, 7.
55
Linder, The Long Tragedy, 160.
53
262
family. That they were a family for whom the pretences of religion meant little was
typified in one of Smith’s YMCA stories of the ‘zealous chaplain who asked a
Salvation lassie to cease giving out coffee till he spoke to them of Jesus’. After this a
soldier called out, ‘She puts Jesus in the coffee’.56 The theological subtlety of
Christ’s omniscience may have evaded the chaplain, but not the godly digger. On
that night in May 1926, at the Adelaide Exhibition Building, the Australian diggers
paid their highest compliment; they adopted Smith as one of their own. Their
collective testimony was evidence of that:
It was a great meeting, hundreds made their decision, and when all Christ’s
people were asked to stand it seemed as though the whole audience was on
its feet.57
‘Gipsy’ Smith kept clear of controversy. He was not one to debate the theological
issues of the day, such as modernism or fundamentalism, and preferred to preach the
‘old theology’ for conversion.58 The statistics of conversions obtained during the
Adelaide mission were impressive, given that one estimate put the non-church-going
attendance at 20 per cent.59 At the first Sunday services, there were 900 recorded
first-time ‘decisions’, and by the end of the mission over 11,000 cards had been
handed in.60 By comparison, Melbourne reported 15,000 cards signed, while for the
whole of Australia the figure was reported as 80,000.61 There was some immediate
effect on the membership of the Methodist Church, which increased by 322 (24,187
to 24,509) in 1926.62 Given that there were 117 conversions reported for other than
Smith mission evangelistic meetings in 1926, the Smith mission contributed to the
majority of the membership increase. This was still well below the potential decision
‘pool’ of an estimated 2,750 decisions for Methodism.63 This is explained partly by
the fact that the number of first-time decisions or converts was included in the 11,000
figure quoted rather than separating the actual figure itself, as two kinds of ‘Decision
56
ACC, 28 May 1926, 3.
ACC, 28 May 1926, 3.
58
ACC, 21 May 1926, 3.
59
ACC, 14 May 1926, 3.
60
ACC, 21 May 1926, 4; 28 May 1926, 3.
61
ACC, 3 June 1927, 1; Register, 3 August 1926, 15.
62
Figures at Appendix 3.
63
Appendices 2 and 3. The figure of 2,750 is one-quarter of 11,000, which represents Methodism’s
share of the census adherent figure for 1921 when 24.8% of the state’s population declared themselves
Methodists. The figure was probably higher, as Catholics, Lutherans, and most Anglicans did not even
think of attending. See Vamplew, Australians: Historical Statistics, 424 for census figures.
57
263
Cards’ were handed out at each of the meetings: one for initial conversions and the
other for re-dedications. This distinction was not apparent, apart from one case, in
the figures obtained. Like every previous large-scale revivalist mission, many
‘decision-makers’ did not proceed to church membership.
For the participating churches, finding the lost converts was a well-known
problem. During Smith’s first evangelistic mission in Adelaide in 1894, a Methodist
minister reported that in his host church, only a few converts later joined, despite
hundreds of reported conversions.64 In May 1926, the President-General of the
General Conference of the Methodist Church, the Rev. Dr. E. H. Sugden (18541935), deeply committed to the Methodist heritage, stated that ‘Gipsy Smith had
done much to awaken the people from indifference to religion’. He went on to add
that the long-term results depended on the ‘patient and indefatigable effort of the
churches to retain in their fellowship those who had signed decision cards and
accepted Christ as their Saviour’.65 Clearly, the churches were proficient and
successful in generating waves of spiritual excitement, but less so in making
members out of converts. The mission added more to the invisible Methodist selfdescribed population than it did to the visible Methodist population.
Nonetheless, Methodist congregations, along with others, did benefit from the
revivalist campaign. For some, the excitement of a trip to the city from the country or
suburbs, a crowded Exhibition Building and massed choir, being seated in church
groups, and the vibrant and enthusiastic singing of Sankey’s and Alexander’s hymns
and choruses, or uplifted by Gipsy Smith’s renditions, provided a measure of
religious fervour, entertainment, and sentimentality for otherwise isolated believers.
A few weeks after the mission concluded, the Local Preachers’ and Laymen’s
Association reported ‘a spirit of revival’ throughout the state, as ministers and others
told of ‘quickened interest in spiritual things, of prayer meetings revived, and better
attendances at church’.66 The mission generated a common religious identity for the
evangelical community, confronted as it was by the pace and extent of pluralistic
64
ACC, 9 April 1926, 4. There were two host churches – Franklin Street Bible Christian Church and
Archer Street Wesleyan Church. As the incident was recalled by the Bible Christian layman, Dr. W.G.
Torr, the host church was probably the Franklin Street church.
65
ACC, 4 June 1926, 3; Register, 21 May 1926, 10.
66
ACC, 18 June 1926, 15.
264
change. It was an identity based on the need for conversion and salvation, faith based
more on the Bible than denominational doctrines, and the spiritual affinity of
revivalist interdenominational gatherings. The Mission meetings invoked a sense of
belonging and reassurance that transcended the divisive nature of church debates
over fundamentalism and modernism, and higher criticism in the 1920s, as
congregations grappled with community indifference and rising affluence.
The measure of faith and piety for many in the pew was typified by the heartwarming spectre of religious and social solidarity displayed by a mid-north Terowie
Methodist family when father, mother, and all their children ‘gave themselves to
Jesus’ as the result of ‘influences’ of the Gipsy Smith Mission.67 For some, the
mission marked the time of their conversion; for others it was a re-consecration of
faith. In estimating the overall impact of the mission, the words of the evangelical
pastor Henry Hussey, in the wake of the 1878 visit of the British evangelist Henry
Varley, were just as appropriate in 1926 as they were originally: ‘the evangelist had
been a greater blessing to the saved than to the unsaved’.68 When Gipsy Smith left
Australian shores later in 1926, there would not be another visit like it until the
American Baptist evangelist Billy Graham arrived in 1959 to conduct an Australiawide crusade.
Revivalism – Late 1920s
Methodism experienced few notable evangelistic and revivalist events for the
remainder of the 1920s. A localised revival, the result of twelve months of
preparation, in the wake of the Gipsy Smith mission, took place at Ceduna on the Far
West Coast of Eyre Peninsula from June to August 1926. A combined Anglican,
Methodist, and Churches of Christ initiative, it was led by the Rev. Edgar Miller
(Methodist) as mission evangelist, assisted by Mr. S. H. Lovell (Churches of Christ)
as song leader. Eight missions, spread over 250 kilometres, were held in remote and
small villages. With at least seventy-five conversions recorded during eight weeks,
the majority of whom claimed Anglican allegiance, the mission witnessed ‘changed
67
ACC, 25 June 1926, 14.
H. Hussey, More Than Half A Century of Colonial Life and Christian Experience (Adelaide:
Hussey & Gillingham, 1897), 403.
68
265
lives’, numerous Sunday school conversions, and, at one location, the formation of a
thirty strong Christian Endeavour Society. Lovell, the song leader, summed up the
mission by declaring that he had ‘never before seen a place so stirred by the Spirit of
God’.69
On the other hand, a three-week evangelistic mission conducted at Kadina from
16 July to 7 August 1927 ‘fell short of success’, according to a report in the
Australian Christian Commonwealth.70 In a letter to the editor, the layman H. W.
Tossell called for a thorough investigation of the mission and the reasons for its
‘failure’. The correspondent offered his own general views on the outcome of the
mission. They included a failure to keep pace with a modern interpretation of the
Bible and the use of outdated ‘old time revival tactics’. Furthermore, Tossell
expressed a view that some Methodist ministers ‘felt obliged to preach conservative
theology which they have outgrown’. This was because they ‘preached a sort of
miraculous repentance and faith as the only means of salvation’. Greater ‘freedom of
thought’, claimed the correspondent, would enable preachers to ‘act in accordance
with the intellectual growth of the times’. Tossell asserted that such constraining
influences caused these men to ‘feel that they could do more real work for ‘vital
religion’ if they resigned their ministry and engaged in ordinary vocations’. Tossell
concluded:
The continuance of the evangelistic appeal and revival methods can
undoubtedly be supported by much argument, and an excellent defence
expounded, but the facts are that they do not meet with success in a measure
great enough to justify their continuance in many places, and no amount of
argument can alter the situation.71
Although the article did not provide any details relevant to the mission’s location,
apart from Kadina, the churches involved, who the missioners were, or its auspices, it
is likely that a mission conducted by the Evangelisation Society of South Australia in
Kadina from 16 July to 7 August 1927 is the one referred to in the correspondence.
The Methodist paper, Australian Christian Commonwealth, did not report on any
mission conducted in Kadina, Methodist or otherwise, during 1927. Furthermore,
69
ACC, 9 July 1926, 14; 23 July 1926, 12; 27 August 1926, 5.
ACC, 19 August 1927, 16. Details of this paragraph are from the reference cited.
71
ACC, 19 August 1927, 16.
70
266
there were no revivalist meetings reported of any nature throughout South Australia
for which conversions took place in the year.
The ‘Kadina United Mission’, conducted by representatives of the Evangelisation
Society with the support of local ministers, utilised the facilities of the
Congregational Church, Churches of Christ and Victoria Square Methodist Church.72
The mission included day and nightly meetings at Kadina, Alford, and Paskeville,
lunch-time school meetings, Sunday school addresses, house visitation, and Sunday
evening united meetings in the Kadina Town Hall. At the opening meeting, the
Mayor of Kadina and participating ministers sat on the platform. The Kadina and
Wallaroo Times reported favourably on the work of the Society throughout the
region two years previously and endorsed its ‘excellent record of sane and lasting
missionary work’.73 There were no reports of conversions or other results of the
mission in the Kadina and Wallaroo Times. The only follow up correspondence
published in the Methodist paper was a letter by H. Pope, who, while acknowledging
Tossell’s concerns, appealed to the well-known circuit evangelist, the Rev. Samuel
Forsyth, to present a historical and contemporary perspective on the ‘vital’ issue.74
None was forthcoming.
Many Methodist readers probably concluded that the Kadina mission was a
Methodist mission conducted in a Methodist Church. Either the lack of
correspondence on the issue, apart from Pope’s letter, indicated indifference on the
part of the readership, or there was widespread knowledge by some other means that
it was the Evangelisation Society referred to and therefore the matter did not warrant
72
Kadina and Wallaroo Times, 16 July 1927, 2. Representatives of the Evangelisation Society
included the Rev. G.R. Brown, evangelist, Mrs G.R. Brown pianist and soloist, Commander Harvey,
and Miss Robinson, women’s and children’s ministry.
73
Kadina and Wallaroo Times, 16 July 1927, 2; 23 July 1927, 2; 27 July 1927, 3; 30 July 1927, 2. In
1925, the Methodist churches on the Peninsula cooperated with the Evangelisation Society in the
conduct of missions. A mission was not conducted in Kadina in 1925, as the decision was made to
hold it later, which turned out to be 1927. A special meeting of Yorke Peninsula Methodist minsters in
June 1925, discussed arrangements for the mission and concerns with the Evangelisation Society. See
ACC, 3 July 1925, 5. Congregational Church participation in the mission was probably an attempt to
revive the work. After ‘many fruitless efforts to sustain and revive the work at Kadina’, the church
closed in 1940. See John Cameron, In Stow’s Footsteps: A Chronological History of the
Congregational Churches in S.A. 1837-1977 (Adelaide: South Australian Congregational History
Project Committee, 1987), 45.
74
ACC, 16 September 1927, 12. Pope likewise, made no reference to the Evangelisation Society in his
correspondence. Either he was not aware or, if he was, felt the matter did not require clarification.
267
further discussion. Alternatively, the readership agreed with Tossell’s views, that the
matter required no further consideration. In any event, what did the issue reveal?
The issue showed there was concern within the Methodist Church in the late
1920s over the apparent inability of the church to maintain and extend its missionary
focus. John Wesley’s dictum: ‘You have nothing to do but to save souls’, was still
considered the relevant mandate by which to judge the church’s operation and
influence.75 However, in the light of few conversions and slow membership growth
in the early and mid 1920s, and a natural tendency to compare Methodism’s
performance with earlier times in the state and colony’s history, concerned ministers
and lay people attempted to identify the relevant causes.76 However, the relatively
healthy Sunday attendance figures, which had risen steadily in the early 1920s to
around 86,000 by the end of the decade, masked the full extent of the level of
concern and blunted the task of adequate analysis. The 1928 Conference resolution
on the Work of God reflected this:
We gratefully recognise the goodness and help of God in the manifold work
of our Church throughout the year. We take courage that in spite of modern
difficulties our Church membership continues to increase and the support of
Home and Foreign Missions and other work of the Kingdom of God is well
maintained.77
However, in the opinion of the President of the Methodist Conference, the goal to
claim ‘Australia for Christ’ was still a long way off.78
In 1928, a number of correspondents, along with the editor of the Australian
Christian Commonwealth, contributed to the debate over the slow growth of the
Methodist Church. Although some of the contributions were in the main anecdotal,
opinion-based, or generalised, and inevitably were filtered by the theological and
sociological grid of the author, they do provide a ‘snapshot’ of some of the main
issues. The editor maintained that some consultation had taken place with people
This was the subject of the editorial in the ACC, 20 January 1928, 1.
Methodist Church membership increased by only 1,072 between 1920 and 1925 (23,115 to 24,187).
Recorded conversions amounted to 655 in the same period. See Appendix 3. The Annual Conversion
Index (ACI) almost flat-lined in this period. See Appendix 4. The only similar comparative period
occurred from 1900 to 1905.
77
ACC, 16 March 1928, 3.
78
ACC, 2 March 1928, 8-9. Assessment made by the Rev. E.J. Piper in his Presidential Address to the
Methodist Conference, 28 February 1928.
75
76
268
outside the church. Not all the issues related to the understanding and practice of
revivalism, but together they presented a wider picture of how some members of
Methodism viewed their church. To what extent they represented the views of the
wider Methodist constituency is unknown. Intended for the public domain, it is likely
that the statements are more measured and objective than would otherwise be the
case.
The editorials and letters to the editor of the Australian Christian Commonwealth
identified a number of concerns. First, there was an apparent lessened need for grace
because of a diminished sense of the nature of sin.79 The long-standing Methodist
public denunciations of the sins of drinking and gambling no longer held sway in the
aftermath of the austere years of the Great War.80 The emergent emphasis on
pleasure appealed to many.
Second, ‘massed methods’ of evangelism were no longer as effective as they
once were. One correspondent suggested the ‘old-time revival meeting’ belonged to
another era, as few outside the church attended the meetings. According to the
correspondent, the crusade led by the English Methodist evangelist the Rev. Norman
Dunning in May and June 1928, produced few adult conversions and, of the
‘hundreds’ reported as conversions, the majority were Sunday school scholars; they
constituted the annual crop of ‘Decision Day’ scholars.81
A third concern was the perception that the church was too institutionally
orientated and had acquired a ‘dull respectability’. It operated more like a ‘big
business’ run on ‘financial rather than spiritual lines’; its members displayed little
difference in outward form to non-church people and presented a negative message
conveyed by the word ‘don’t’.82 Fourth, many no longer valued preaching and
absented themselves accordingly. The Church, therefore, was ‘fighting a losing battle
ACC, 20 January 1928, 1.
The sense of victory in 1915 over the early closing for hotels, had long since given way to a
continued opposition to the liquor industry. The ACC editorial of 20 January 1928 inferred the linkage
of sin with amusements.
81
ACC, 20 January 1928, 1; 5 October 1928, 1. A report of conversion statistics for the Dunning
Crusade recorded 84 adult and 258 Sunday school conversions. See ACC, 6 July 1928, 4-5; 13 July
1928, 4-5.
82
ACC, 10 February 1928, 1.
79
80
269
to keep spirituality in the people’.83
Fifth, preaching for conversion, according to the Rev. A. E. Cowley, was a rarity:
The old-time conversion comes rarely now. The doctrine of evolutionary
process governs modern thought of Christian experience. Who talks of
“getting saved” now? Efforts to “win souls” are almost unknown among
average church members. That is left to the ministers, most of whom seem
to look for progressive spiritual development rather than the miracle of
conversion. A great deal of the soul-winning was once done by our local
preachers. Very few modern ‘locals’ attempt to secure conversions, and they
are discouraged by the coldness, or even hostility in the congregation.84
The emergence of the work of the Local Preachers’ Association since 1918, with its
emphasis on conversion and holiness, and its allied Intercessory Prayer Union,
provided many local preachers with opportunities to preach for conversion and to
deepen the spiritual life of believers. According to Cowley, Methodism had all but
lost its revivalist conversionary fervour. No doubt, there were many Association
local preachers in the 1920s who saw themselves as torchbearers in maintaining this
part of the Methodist evangelical tradition. A consequence of this, according to
Cowley, was that the preacher as exhorter had become the preacher as teacher.
Preaching had become ‘less emotional’ and more ‘instructive’; the ‘teacher had
replaced the agitator’.85
Sixth, Cowley also claimed that over time Methodism had lost some of its
distinctive characteristics, such as the class meeting as the test of membership. The
mid-week prayer and fellowship meeting no longer attracted the vast majority of
Methodists, and there was less emphasis on instantaneous conversion. These ‘Marks
of Methodism’ were lost as the denomination catered for a more ‘generalised
religious experience’.86 The Methodist minister D. T. Reddin was in no doubt as to
where the problem lay. In correspondence to the Methodist serial on the topic of ‘The
Trend of Modern Methodism’, Reddin claimed that:
The real reason for the lost “Marks of Methodism” is the absence of vital
religion. I think we are reaping the harvest of a mistaken method, whereby
83
ACC, 2 March 1928, 6.
ACC, 5 October 1928, 1.
85
ACC, 5 October 1928, 4.
86
ACC, 5 October 1928, 1.
84
270
people have been carried from cradle roll to full membership; passed from
one book to another without a confession of a conscious relationship to
Jesus Christ as Saviour. These carded and indexed members are often very
nice people, but not being “born again” the absence of life explains the lack
of appetite for prayer, fellowship, and after-meetings. Once born, men may
be members of a church, but only twice-born men enter the Kingdom of God
and possess its spiritual enthusiasms.87
In contrast, the revivalist-centred ‘instantaneous’ conversion made little
allowance for the authentic nature of the volitional, gradual, step-by-step process of
conversion.88 Revivalism favoured that its own type of religious experience, in which
the self was transformed in an instantaneous act of self-surrender to Christ, was the
ideal. Glen O’Brien has traced the ‘shift from crisis to process’ as the dominant
model of conversion within Australian Methodism by the late 1920s. He contends
that this occurred in the context of the loss of the class meeting, loss of ‘religious
certainty’, and to theological distinctions between liberals and conservatives.89
Seventh, the Rev. W. A. Potts contended that the ‘magnifying of the evangelist to
the disparagement of others’, an insight well understood by circuit ministers, often
unintentionally led some to ‘break away from the [Methodist] Church in pursuit of
that which their own church was lacking’.90 He probably had in mind the two
Methodist ministers, Edgar Miller and George Brown, the first two evangelists of the
Evangelisation Society of South Australia. Potts could understand the attractiveness
of the itinerant evangelist preaching for conversion and moving from one meeting to
the next. However, he cautioned against the tendency to manufacture conversions in
order to ‘produce results’.91
Finally, ‘there was a distrust of institutional religion, but a belief in Christian
brotherhood’. 92 This was in part explained by an apparent ‘drift’ in the content of
87
ACC, 2 November 1928, 14.
William James’s psychological study of conversion identified the two types of conversion, the
‘instantaneous’ and the volitional-gradual. See William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience,
reprint of 1902 edn. (Pacific Publishing Studio, 2010), 96-109. See also, Jerald C Brauer,
‘Conversion: From Puritanism to Revivalism’, Journal of Religion 58, no. 3 (July 1978), 227-243,
230.
89
Glen O’Brien, ‘Australian Methodist Religious Experience’, in Glen O’Brien and Hilary M. Carey,
eds., Methodism in Australia (Farnham: Ashgate, 2015), 167-179.
90
ACC, 27 April 1928, 1.
91
ACC, 27 April 1928, 1.
92
ACC, 3 February 1928, 1.
88
271
preaching of some younger ministers away from Christ’s atoning sacrifice, in favour
of a ‘unitarian doctrine’ that emphasised the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood
of man.93
The correspondence revealed that by the late 1920s Methodists were reevaluating the effectiveness, role, and conduct of massed evangelistic meetings.
Some Methodists questioned whether such meetings were still relevant, as preaching
was moving away from the atonement toward emphasising the ‘brotherhood of man’.
Others contended that preaching for conversion was no longer the focus.
Norman Dunning – ‘Spiritual Advance Crusade’ – 1928
The Norman Dunning Crusade in South Australia from April to July 1928, often
referred to as a ‘Spiritual Advance Crusade’, attempted to re-establish the credibility
of the revivalist tradition in Methodism. The use of the evangelist Norman Dunning,
a minister of the British Wesleyan Conference, a Cambridge graduate and a one-time
Cliff College tutor, was Methodism’s answer to the crisis within its own ranks.
Praised for his ‘scholarship, forensic mind, intensity, sincerity, culture and charm,’
Dunning was invited to Australia by the Methodist General Conference. He led
evangelistic missions within South Australia at Adelaide’s Kent Town and Pirie
Street churches, Port Pirie, and Broken Hill.94
The final phase of the Crusade consisted of a week-long campaign conducted
with military precision during which fifty Methodist ministers participated in a city
and suburban-wide simultaneous evangelistic campaign. Mission events held in fifty
out of a possible eighty-five churches included nightly services, open-air meetings,
visits to Christian Endeavour societies, Sunday Schools, and men’s and women’s
meetings. 95 The Adelaide crusade, made possible through the centralised planning,
discipline, and accountability of connexionalism, was an instrument of mission.
Based on a model developed in Britain in the early 1920s, the Adelaide
93
ACC, 26 March 1926, 15. Letter to the Editor. This was the opinion of a Methodist representative to
the 1926 Conference.
94
ACC, 16 March 1928, 3; 23 March 1928, 16.
95
ACC, 15 June 1928, 1; 6 July 1928, 4-5; 13 July 1928, 4.
272
experience did not live up to the success enjoyed by its British counterpart.96 There
were some conversions; country Methodists made the journey to the city for the
simultaneous crusade, and a crowded Exhibition Building provided the venue for the
last meeting of the crusade on 3 July 1928.97 There was inspired and enthusiastic
singing of hymns such as All Hail the Power for thirty minutes before Dunning and
fifty ministers occupied the platform.98 Once again, statements such as the ‘revival is
at hand’ and ‘the beginning of a revival of religion throughout the community’
stimulated the expectations of those in attendance.99 According to the Register there
were some in the community, however, for whom the crusade experience confirmed
their understanding of the Methodist Church as a revivalist entity.100 Dunning’s
academic scholarship and preaching appealed to Methodists who ‘favoured rational
sobriety over emotional excitement’.101 In an era of theological re-assessment, a
more rationalist hermeneutic influenced the evangelical power of the gospel.
Overall, the crusade that was intended to mobilise the nominal believer toward
vital religion failed to arrest the ‘outside masses drifting into godlessness’.102 The
Advertiser, in reporting Dunning’s departure for Victoria, observed that the city’s
Methodist ministers ‘expressed the conviction that the work has been of a solid and
lasting character’.103 The newspaper’s assessment was more relevant to the church’s
membership than to the wider nominal and not-very-interested population. The core
of the Methodist religious subculture was becoming increasingly aware of the
indifference of much of the city and suburban population to the church’s message.
Conclusion
By the end of the 1920s, the large-scale revivalist mission had lost its savour as
the flagship of Methodist revivalism, in favour of the more diffuse localised
simultaneous missions. No longer did Methodism display a confident and unified
96
ACC, 8 June 1928, 4.
ACC, 22 June 1928, 4.
98
Register, 4 July 1928, 7.
99
ACC, 22 June 1928, 4; Advertiser, 4 July 1928, 10.
100
Register, 4 July 1928, 7.
101
Glen O’Brien, ‘North American Wesleyan-Holiness Churches in Australia’ (PhD thesis, La Trobe
University, 2005), 36. O’Brien discusses the Adelaide Norman Dunning crusade at pages 35-37.
102
ACC, 15 June 1928, 1.
103
Advertiser, 7 July 1928, 26.
97
273
understanding of the merit of revivalism as the method of choice for individual and
social transformation. Even the act of conversion underwent reification in the minds
of some Methodists. It was clear that divisions within Methodism existed on the
issue. Most agreed that conversion ‘was the one gateway to vital Christianity’,104
although there were differences over its nature, timing, whether it was instantaneous,
or gradual and extended.
Although the massed revivalist event such as the Gipsy Smith mission in 1926 no
longer held sway among some Methodists, this did not mark the end of revivalism as
a means of making converts within the denomination. Instead, South Australian
Methodism emerged from the 1920s with a continued desire to prosecute forms of
revivalism that it believed were more receptive to the times. The Spiritual Advance
Crusades led by William Shaw from 1929 to 1933 maintained the revivalist feature
of Methodist ‘vital religion’. The 1930s, to which we now turn, was a decade of
revivalist experimentation for the Methodist Church; a time when the intellectual
challenges of liberalism and modernism affected revivalism.
104
Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, 7.
274
CHAPTER 12
REVIVALISM RE-EXAMINED – 1930S
In the decade before the Second World War, there were five main facets to South
Australian Methodist revivalism: the Spiritual Advance Crusades conducted by the
Rev. Dr. William Shaw (1854-1937) from 1929 to 1933, localised revivalist
initiatives at the circuit level, the ‘new evangelism’, the influence of the Oxford
Group Movement, and, in 1938, the re-introduction of the Conference Evangelist.
Methodism had always looked and longed for religious revival, through which
experiential religion would not only revive the church but also transform society
along Christian principles and precepts. In addition to these five facets of revivalism
in the 1930s, this chapter will note the ongoing emphasis given to the evangelistic
mission by the Evangelisation Society, and examine the continuing intellectual
debates, which were prominent in the late nineteenth-century, and emerged again in
the early twentieth-century as ‘Liberalism’ and ‘Modernism’. Their effects on
revivalism is examined.
Spiritual Advance Crusades – 1929-1933
Methodism’s reliance on the specialist revivalist continued with the William
Shaw-led Spiritual Advance Crusades from 1929 to 1933.1 The Crusades were a
Conference initiative, planned and executed by an evangelistic committee, and were
intended to assist circuits. It was the continuation of the crusade strategy introduced
to South Australian Methodism in 1928 by the British Methodist evangelist, Norman
Dunning.
For five years, Shaw itinerated throughout South Australia, conducting five-day
teaching and evangelism crusades, meeting with groups of ministers, men’s and
1
William Shaw, originally a Methodist New Connexion minister, migrated from England in 1883 to
minister in Victoria. He moved to South Australia in 1905. An outstanding preacher, Shaw occupied
prominent pulpits including Archer Street, North Adelaide (1905-07). A well-read scholar, he was
appointed a theological tutor at Prince Alfred College. Known for his evangelical views, he was open
to the latest Biblical scholarship, and modified his views accordingly. He was president of the South
Australia Conference in 1918, and, following his retirement in 1928, led Spiritual Advance Crusades
throughout South Australian Methodism. On Shaw see Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 126, 215, 248, 260,
263, 294, 303. Arnold D. Hunt, ‘Shaw, William 1854-1937’, ADEB, 336.
275
women’s meetings, and Sunday school conventions. Known for his expository
teaching, Shaw was widely appreciated throughout Methodism for reviving churches
and leading Methodists into a deeper spiritual experience. 2 The Crusades realised
few converts. Nevertheless, Conference each year expressed its gratitude for Shaw’s
work. The crusades appealed to the Methodist membership rather than the
unchurched.
Circuit Revivalism
Methodist circuit revivalism continued in the 1930s, albeit somewhat diminished.
Circuit revivalism, a feature of the church in South Australia since its beginnings in
the 1830s, continued to provide a means of securing converts, spreading scriptural
holiness, and aiding denominational expansion. Concentrated evangelistic effort
often took place in the cooler winter months during the time of reduced agricultural
activity following the annual seeding of seasonal crops such as wheat and barley.
Local evangelistic missions, with the aim of securing the next batch of converts, held
either in the rural townships or in city and suburban locations, were conducted under
circuit or Conference arrangements. Often, circuits chose to conduct their own
locally planned and led missions, which, on occasions, included other churches in the
locality and also a guest missioner. They varied in length from a few days to two or
three weeks. In the 1930s, thirteen of these localised circuit-run crusades or missions
were held, and together they produced 503 converts. By way of comparison, thirty
years earlier in the period 1900 to 1909 there were at least fifty-seven localised
events that yielded 2,811 converts.3
Evangelisation Society of South Australia
The Evangelisation Society of South Australia continued its work throughout the
decade in partnership with local churches. One such mission, conducted by the
Society’s evangelist, George Brown, in the Willunga Circuit in April and May 1930
over a six-week period, yielded sixty-four converts. Nightly meetings held in
Willunga, Noarlunga, Bethany, McLaren Flat, Aldinga, and McLaren Vale witnessed
2
3
Australian Christian Commonwealth, 28 February 1930, 5; 2 May 1930, 11; 30 May 1930, 14.
Details for the 1930s and the period 1900-1909 extracted from Appendices 1 and 2.
276
conversions in each locality as the revival spread throughout the district. Daily
meetings held near schools enabled children to attend and to make professions of
faith. A key feature of the mission was the visitation of 170 homes, in which, it was
reported, many conversions took place:
Souls were won in homes and in all sorts of places. Men knelt in swamps
and onion patches, and stood with bowed and bared heads by the side of
implements in the field, and yielded to Christ, as we sealed the great
moment with ‘paddock prayer’.4
At the final rally held at Willunga ‘one of the oldest, ablest and most spiritual laymen
of the district’ reported:
I have been in touch with missions large and small all along the years of my
life, and I have never seen anything finer, deeper, saner or so penetrating,
effective and far-reaching in method, spirit and result as the type of
evangelism I have witnessed in our district during the past six weeks.5
The report in the Australian Christian Commonwealth, probably written by the Rev.
J. J. Kilmartin, circuit minister, identified four progressive phases of the revival. The
first was the ‘preparatory’ phase, which entailed weekly prayer meetings for twelve
months prior to the mission. The second phase was the ‘operation’, which included
the day and night meetings, and house visitation. The third phase was ‘realisation’.
For mission participants, this subjective experience culminated with the Holy Spirit’s
work in conversion. The final phase was ‘conservation and continuation’, which
included measures such as the formation of Christian Endeavour Societies to
preserve the beneficial results of the mission.6
George Brown’s Willunga mission was conversion-focussed. Brown preached to
obtain conversions as the sole objective of the mission. Special meetings, music, and
the building of spiritual intensity over the course of the mission culminated in the
climax of final night conversions amid ‘tears of joy’ and ‘tears of repentance’.7
According to the editor of the Methodist paper, such missions, which had changed
little in the previous 100 years, were now thought by some to be ‘old evangelism’.
4
ACC, 6 June 1930, 8.
ACC, 6 June 1930, 8.
6
ACC, 6 June 1930, 8, 11.
7
ACC, 6 June 1930, 8.
5
277
They belonged to the ‘revivalistic methods of yesterday’ and were guaranteed to
‘merely irritate congregations’.8 However, in the 1930s, the Evangelisation Society
continued to demonstrate that missions, with the aim of producing converts, were
still valid forms of evangelism.
‘New Evangelism’
The ‘new evangelism’ practised in revived circuits, explained the editor of the
Australian Christian Commonwealth, consisted of ‘Persuasive’, ‘Positive’, or
‘Pastoral’ evangelism designed ‘to win a soul, to win over an intellect, get the
consent of a heart, and the agreement of a will’.9 The new methodology emphasised
the persuasive use of discussion, conferences, and literature to influence the mind, an
attitude toward others that saw the positive aspects of human potential and
realisation, rather than souls to be ‘snatched from destruction’. The editor also called
for a greater use of friendship opportunities for evangelistic purposes. The existing
‘circuit means of grace’ could amply accommodate the new emphasis. Despite the
limitations of the obvious ‘humanistic emphasis’ of the ‘new evangelism’, the editor
was nonetheless heartened by the ‘swinging revival tides’ throughout the state and
declared that ‘considerable revival can be initiated by the new spirit of evangelism’.
This was to be preferred to the ‘old evangelism’ characterised by the ‘perils of hellfire’ and ‘hustled decisions’.
It is possible that reports of evangelistic meetings such as those conducted by
ministerial students of Wesley College, at which ‘200 young people made a
profession of faith’, convinced the editor of the merits of the ‘new evangelism’.10
There were two other reports of mission-type events at which conversions were
recorded. One occurred in the Maylands circuit (‘some decisions’) in September
1934, and the other, termed a ‘revival’ in the country circuit of Woodside (38
converts) in the same month. Convinced that the ‘new evangelism’ was having an
impact throughout the Methodist Church, the editor of the Australian Christian
8
ACC, 8 June 1934, 1.
This paragraph is based on the editorial, ‘Into the Harvest Fields’, by Cyril Wheaton, editor of the
ACC, 8 June 1934, 1.
10
ACC, 8 June 1934, 1. Apart from this one reference, no further details are provided. It was common
during the late 1930s for Wesley College students to conduct missions.
9
278
Commonwealth lamented the paper’s inability to report other revivalist activity
during 1934 because ‘the brethren do not volunteer the information’.11 There were
many who considered that the ‘new evangelism’ at the grass-roots level of circuit life
did not warrant reporting. After all, the message of the Evangelical appeal had not
changed, and a revised methodology to harvest conversions had not yet emerged for
a new revivalism.12 However, there was an aspect of the ‘new evangelism’ that could
offer a revised methodology. One of the meetings held during the Woodside circuit
revival in 1934, and attended by a minister and a ‘car-load of young people’ from
Adelaide, held out new hope. Conducted on ‘group lines’, the young converts gave
‘simple and direct’ testimonies at the meeting, and ‘had a great influence on the
audience’.13 Despite the slump in new motor vehicle registrations in the early 1930s
because of the Great Depression, and the motor vehicles ‘hastened [effect on] the
secularisation of Sunday’,14 the increased mobility afforded by the motor vehicle
enhanced the ability of group-enthusiasts to spread the movement’s message.
Oxford Group Movement
The most innovative form of revivalism in the 1930s was influenced by the
Oxford Group Movement. Methodism’s predisposition for evangelism in the 1930s
was a blend of an unchanging belief in people’s need for salvation, merged with
methodological pragmatism. The Rev. S. Carroll Myers, as incoming president of
Conference in 1932, reiterated the importance of evangelism:
Wesley bequeathed to Methodism a very rich legacy, of which the most
precious thing is the spirit of evangelism; and that we have never lost it we
may most thankfully acknowledge. It is the very essence of Methodism, and
the heart of the Methodist witness…Our supreme mission as a Chuch is an
11
ACC, 5 October 1934, 3.
An article entitled, ‘We Preach Christ Crucified’ by Mr. R. A. Potter, Head Master of Mount
Gambier High School, which appeared in the ACC, 29 June 1934, 3, argued that a personal experience
of the saving action of God in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ was still the standard to
measure the Christian faith. The Evangelical appeal had not changed. Potter reflected the belief of
probably most Methodists. The need for a new methodology is outlined in an article entitled, ‘What is
the Evangelical Appeal’. See ACC, 22 June 1934, 14. This reflected the views of the proponents of a
‘new evangelism’.
13
ACC, 5 October 1934, 3.
14
New car registrations slumped from 9,946 in 1927 to 2,401 in 1930 and only 544 the following year
before rising again to 5,406 in 1938. See Peter Donovan, ‘Motor cars and freeways: Measures of a
South Australian love affair’, in Bernard O’Neil, Judith Raftery, and Kerrie Round, eds., Playford’s
South Australia: Essays on the history of South Australia, 1933-1968 (Adelaide: Association of
Professional Historians, 1996), 202, 206.
12
279
unceasing and unfaltering witness to the power of Christ to save to the
uttermost, to proclaim to all men the Gospel of a full and free salvation.15
Allied with an unchanging purpose, Carroll Myers also reminded the Conference of
Methodism’s unchanging message:
We preach Christ crucified. It is the watchword of our ministry. Let us
resolutely refuse to be turned aside from it. As Methodist preachers we must
ever strive to emulate the zeal and faithfulness of St. Paul: ‘Our Gospel
came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and
in much assurance’. For such effectiveness the ‘warmed heart’ is essential.16
Methodism’s ability to pursue methodological pragmatism in evangelism enabled it
to embrace warmly the influence of the Oxford Group.17 In 1932, it was left to the
retiring president, the Rev. J. G. Jenkin, to declare that ‘the day of revivals has not
gone by’.18 Within the year, some Methodists saw the influence and growing support
for the Oxford Group as providing the potential for revival.
Among the first within Methodism to formalise this understanding was the
Adelaide South District Synod. At its annual meeting held in October 1932, the
Synod passed the following resolution:
In the judgment of this Synod the revival of the longing for real Christian
experience, fellowship and service as evinced in the Fellowship of the
Kingdom, the Oxford Group and similar movements is manifestly of God.19
Of like mind, the Local Preachers’ and Laymen’s Association, in December 1932,
suggested that ‘one of the most hopeful signs of revival is found in the Oxford Group
Movement’.20
The movement had its origins with the American Lutheran, the Rev. Dr. Frank
Buchman, who developed the principles and practices of the movement while
undertaking evangelistic work. This included visits to Oxford and Cambridge
15
ACC, 26 February 1932, 3.
ACC, 26 February 1932, 3.
17
South Australian Methodists preferred the term ‘Oxford Group’ rather than the term ‘Cambridge
Group’ which, for a while, was the Methodist version of the group in Britain.
18
ACC, 11 March 1932, 4. The Methodist Local Preachers’ and Laymen’s Association also looked for
a ‘revival of true religion’, and acknowledged that its form may differ from past revivals. See ACC, 9
December 1932, 13.
19
ACC, 4 November 1932, 3.
20
ACC, 16 December 1932, 11.
16
280
universities in 1920. After a mission to South Africa in 1929, he and and his
followers became known as ‘the Oxford Group’. The Movement influenced British
Methodists and by 1932 was having an effect on South Australian Methodists.21
Bebbington argues that the Movement reflected the influence of cultural modernism,
characterised by ‘Expressionism’ or self-expression, and the ‘arbitrariness of
language’. 22 Cultural modernism was a reaction against the rational and objective
nature of modern society, and found expression in the arts and literature.23 It was also
affected by the depth psychology of the inter-war period.24
One of the earliest practitioners of the Oxford Group Movement within South
Australian Methodism was the Rev. Percy H. Chennell who conducted weekly
Tuesday evening testimony meetings at Goodwood Methodist Church during 1932.
Among those who ‘stood up and told in simple words of what Christ meant in their
own lives, of new power over sin and a new joy greater than any earthly joy’ were
university students, former ‘drunkards and gamblers’. In addition, the Kurralta Park,
Keswick, and Unley Methodist churches hosted either worship or testimony
meetings. 25
In early 1933, the Congregationalist, E. S. Kiek, principal of Parkin College,
undertook the first assessment of the Oxford Group Movement. In a series of three
articles, Kiek outlined the Group’s history, teaching, and practice in the Australian
Christian Commonwealth. Kiek understood that the Oxford Group had the potential
to deliver a revival at a time when there existed ‘considerable suspicion’ of
‘American methods of evangelism’. The Group’s alignment with Evangelical
Christianity, its ‘striking resemblance to early Methodism’, and its priority on
individual conversion as the way to achieve a righteous nation appealed to
Methodists.26
21
Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 345-346.
On cultural modernism and the Oxford Group Movement, see Bebbington, Evangelicalism in
Modern Britain, 233-242.
23
On cultural modernism’s impact on British Christianity in the 1930s and 1940s, see Giles Watson,
‘Cultural Expressions of Christian Doctrine in Britain, 1937-1949’, Lucas: An Evangelical History
Review, 21 and 22 (June and December 1996), 61-90.
24
Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, 237.
25
ACC, 20 January 1933, 14.
26
ACC, 27 January 1933, 5, 13; 3 February 1933, 5; 10 February 1933, 4-5.
22
281
By the end of 1933 a further seven articles published in the Methodist paper
portrayed the Movement as worthy of assimilation within the Methodist Church.27
The British Methodist theologian, Leslie D. Weatherhead, in an article entitled
‘Revival’, declared that the ‘revival is not coming. It is here’, and cited the influence
of the Movement:
I cannot personally doubt that the revival has been partly brought about
indirectly by the Oxford Group Movement. I should describe that Movement
as the greatest religious force in England today. 28
Others found the personal righteousness emphasised by the Movement helpful.
The Rev. Albert Thomas Holden, President General of the Methodist Church of
Australasia, in an address to a hundred ministers in Melbourne, claimed that the
Movement demanded a 100 per cent Christian life built on the four standards of
absolute purity, honesty, love, and unselfishness. There was little doubt in the mind
of the President General when he furthermore declared: ‘there is nothing in it that we
may not embrace, for it is early Methodism and early Christianity’.29 Other voices in
the community such as that of Enid Lyons, wife of the Prime Minister, echoed
similar sentiments to the four standards when she declared that ‘nothing but a great
unselfishness is going to bring back universal prosperity’.30
Later in 1933, the Rev. W. A. Potts, then a retired minister, wrote of his
experiences attending Movement ‘house parties’ and meetings while in England. He
too provided a succinct but ringing endorsement, that the ‘Movement is of God’.
Maurice Wilmshurst, a student at Wesley College, offered perhaps one of the most
telling of assessments when he noted the Movement’s benefit to the local church:
The church did not mean less to those who had found help and victory
through the agency of the Group; on the contrary, they threw themselves
whole-heartedly into the work of their church, making a real contribution to
27
These articles appeared in the following editions of the ACC: 24 February 1933, 3; 24 March 1933,
14-15; 25 August 1933, 14; 1 September 1933, 4; 29 September 1933, 14-15; 6 October 1933, 3; 20
October 1933, 3; 15 December 1933, 14.
28
ACC, 24 February 1933, 3.
29
ACC, 24 March 1933, 15.
30
The comment was made at the first conference of the National Council of Women of Australia held
in Melbourne. See Advertiser, 23 November 1932, 11.
282
the vitality and evangelistic power of their denomination.31
The Methodist Church’s almost total endorsement of the Oxford Group
Movement was complete by the middle of 1934.32 The Movement’s influence on
Methodists was partly due to the widely read book, For Sinners Only by A. J.
Russell, an English author.33 The book’s use of revivalist language appealed
particularly to Methodist evangelistic and expansionist sentiments:
The movement is growing rapidly in England. Within a year or two it may
have spread throughout the country. It must grow, for it holds the answer to
life’s riddle, and makes Christianity intelligible to the man in the street… It
may do for the twentieth century what Wesley did for the eighteenth
century. Who knows?...The new world revival is surely at hand, and coming
to us in the same way that Christianity first burst on a Pagan world when
Spirit-[f]illed men, accused of being full of new wine, went everywhere
witnessing to their experience of a risen Lord.34
In May of 1934, the Rev. W. J. Bailey, director of the Young People’s
Department, saw the Movement as not only a vehicle for revival, but as the means by
which young people might be ‘challenged to follow Christ and serve Him’. Bailey
warned of the possibility that the Movement could develop into a sect independent of
the church and, with a note of alarm, implored Methodism to fully embrace and
‘contain this new life’.35 The demise of the old revivalism precipitated the urgency:
This generation has seen an astounding thing. It has seen time-honoured
methods of evangelisation pass out of use. The suggestion of wholesale
evangelisation, so welcome to past generations, does not interest religious
leaders today.
There is general agreement among Christians that mass evangelisation of the
highly emotional type, formerly so popular, does not meet the modern
religious need.36
According to Bailey, the potential for the Oxford Group Movement to raise up a
‘consecrated army of life-changers’ drawn from the ranks of the ‘nearer margins of
31
ACC, 29 September 1933, 14.
At the opening ministerial session of the 1934 Methodist Conference, the incoming President, the
Rev. J.C. Hughes, claimed that the Oxford Group Movement heralded a coming revival. See
Advertiser, 28 February 1934, 16.
33
A.J. Russell, For Sinners Only (New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1932). The book was
available from the Epworth Book Depot (Methodist), Adelaide, from at least January 1933. See ACC,
20 January 1933, 14.
34
Russell, For Sinners Only, 290-291.
35
ACC, 18 May 1934, 1.
36
ACC, 18 May 1934, 1.
32
283
Methodism’ to prosecute the next revival was palpable.37 The Movement was the
subject of considerable examination during 1936, when Methodism celebrated the
centenary of the founding of the colony. From July 1936, in the light of the
Movement’s reported continued growth in Britain and Europe, and acceptance within
South Australian Methodism, the Methodist paper published weekly articles.38 They
occasionally included critical reviews owing to emerging concerns within the
denomination.39 In the main, however, contributors continued to extol the virtues of
the Movement, and often linked aspects of it to historic Methodism.40
The Movement possessed little of the formalised structure of a denominational
church, save the informal group meeting. Often referred to as church house parties,
the first two meetings held in Australia, according to the Rev. E. A. North Ash, took
place at Unley Park Baptist Church and St. John’s Anglican Church in the city of
Adelaide in June 1935. Modelled on British and European lines, the early Adelaide
‘parties’ conducted on church premises included home billeting for travellers,
hospitality, and, common to all ‘parties’, featured informal times of testimony,
‘sharing’ of spiritual experiences, and confession where contravention of one or
more of the four absolutes occurred. The relaxed atmosphere of the meeting allowed
participants to spread themselves around a room, sit on a chair, table, or the floor. A
hymn might be sung, a passage of Scripture read, an occasional audible, but mainly
silent prayer. Such meetings were considered suitable particularly for young people,
who, through the house party, could find a ‘ready desire to learn about and to know
Jesus Christ as a living Reality and to express Him by an infectious radiance’.41
Criticism of the Movement was sporadic and limited until an article entitled
‘Hitler and Buchman’ appeared in a January 1937 edition of the Methodist paper.
Written by the American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971), the article was
critical of the morally inadequate and utopian idealism of the Movement. Niebuhr
had nothing but contempt for the Movement’s social philosophy, which continually
37
ACC, 18 May 1934, 1.
Articles commenced from 3 July 1936. See ACC, 3 July 1936, 5.
39
See for example, ACC, 24 July 1936, 4, 14.
40
‘Methodism Reborn’, was the title of the editorial in the ACC, 27 March 1936. A regular
correspondent, “Contributor”, highlighted the identification of the Methodist class meeting with
Group meetings. See ACC, 4 September 1936, 14.
41
Advertiser, 18 May 1935, 22; 28 January 1933, 7; 11 August 1933, 14. ACC, 24 March 1933, 14.
38
284
espoused a belief in worldwide salvation through ‘bringing the people who control
the world under God-control’. Hence, his disdain for the Movement’s emphasis on
the powerful, so-called ‘big men’ of industry and politics. Set in the context of the
overt abuse of power with the rise of European Fascist states before the outbreak of
the Second World War, Niebuhr labelled the Movement as ‘pollyanna religion’ and
concluded that it was ‘bourgeois optimism, individualism and moralism expressing
itself in the guise of religion’.42 Predictably, the editor of the Australian Christian
Commonwealth, an enthusiastic proponent of the Oxford Group, labelled Niebuhr’s
critique as ‘too bad-tempered to be judicial and constructive’.43
Niebuhr’s criticism failed to dampen the ardour of either the editor or the
prominent Melbourne Methodist minister, the Rev. Irving Benson, who, in 1936
authored The Eight Points of the Oxford Group.44 Benson, during his annual visit to
Adelaide for the Malvern Methodist Church anniversary in 1937, addressed a group
of ministers on the merit of the Oxford Group.45 During the late 1930s, he was an
influential proponent of the Movement within Australian Methodism. Following the
publication of a special edition of the Australian Christian Commonwealth devoted
to the Oxford Group in December 1938, many in South Australian Methodism
became supportive of the Movement. How widespread, however, was the Movement
within the Church?
As the movement was without structural form, its growth and spread throughout
South Australian Methodism are difficult to assess. A. J. Russell made clear at the
outset of his book, For Sinners Only, that the Oxford Group Movement was ‘not an
organisation. None can tell their number. For in their own words: “You can’t join;
you can’t resign; you are either in or out by the quality of the life you live”’.46 It did,
however, receive extensive coverage in the secular press throughout most of the
42
ACC, 29 January 1937, 1.
ACC, 29 January 1937, 1.
44
C. Irving Benson, The Eight Points of the Oxford Group: An Exposition for Christians and Pagans
(Melbourne: Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, 1936). Special edition on the Oxford Group
published by the ACC on 16 December 1938, contained endorsements from ministers and lay men and
women. Benson’s book was available in Adelaide from May 1936. See Advertiser, 16 May 1936, 14.
The book was the subject of a positive review in the Advertiser, 20 June 1936, 8, in which the
reviewer endorsed the Oxford Group Movement. On Benson see Renate Howe, ‘Benson, Sir Clarence
Irving (1897-1980)’, ADB, vol. 13, 1993; Shirley Horne, ‘Benson, (Clarence) Irving’, ADEB, 38-39.
45
ACC, 1 October 1937, 1.
46
Russell, For Sinners Only, 1.
43
285
1930s, as well as ongoing, though increasingly less generous, denominational
reporting. Given the non-denominational stance of the Movement, the daily secular
press provided the medium of choice for letters to the editor, news on overseas
developments, and the occasional reference included as part of ‘church news’. This
indicated a measure of interest well beyond the boundaries of formalised religion.47
Within the Methodist Church, as in other denominations, the degree of interest
and engagement with the methods and principles of the Oxford Group Movement
depended to a large degree on the attitude of the circuit minister. Enthusiastic
ministerial proponents included among others, A. E. Vogt (who was ordained in
1933 and occupied a number of country circuit appointments in the 1930s), Percy H.
Chennell, S. Carroll Myers (President of Conference, 1932), G. K. Haslam, and J. C.
Hughes (President of Conference, 1934).48 In 1935, the Rev. G. K. Haslam reported
to the Adelaide South District Synod that ‘the Group Movement is quietly and really
working in various Churches capturing many young people for Christ. He highly
recommended the Group Movement’.49 The report, light on specifics and generalised
in nature, was typical of many others.50
The first ‘house party’ on Eyre Peninsula took place at Port Lincoln in October
1935. Conducted on Movement lines, about sixty young people attended from Port
Lincoln and Cummins. Testimonies from a number of those present bore witness to a
changed life and the place of Christ in the new believer’s life. It was a time of ‘great
spiritual uplift’.51 In 1936, a survey of the spiritual life of sixty-six circuits conducted
for the church’s centenary celebrations, reported a number of ‘definite Group
meetings’. One of those was at Berri, on the River Murray, 230 kilometres north-east
of Adelaide, which produced on one occasion five out of the six new church
members and so convinced the Rev. A. E. Vogt of their value that he declared,
somewhat prematurely, that ‘the revival is here’.52
47
See for example articles on the many ways individuals experienced changed lives for good at the
Advertiser, 4 January 1936, 23; 7 July 1936, 20; 1 November 1937, 18.
48
ACC, 20 January 1933, 14; 3 March 1933, 4; Advertiser, 7 August 1933, 7; 4 March 1936, 22.
49
ACC, 8 November 1935, 3.
50
See also Advertiser, 28 January 1933, 7; Advertiser, 24 February 1937, 24.
51
ACC, 29 November 1935, 16.
52
ACC, 14 February 1936, 13.
286
Dissemination of the Movement’s ideas and practices occurred largely by
unofficial contacts, and occasionally by groups of members from various
denominations.53 The Congregationalists, aided by the advocacy of Principal E. S.
Kiek of Parkin College and a number of ministers, including L. C. Parkin, J. D.
Northey, and H. S. Grimwade, sought to introduce the Movement to their
denomination.54 Parkin, in particular, used non-church occasions such as Rotary and
Health Club meetings to further the Movement’s cause.55 The dissemination of
information occurred by quiet influence and slow permeation.56
The aims of the Movement, according to Kiek in 1933, were in accordance with
the fundamental ideas of Evangelical Christianity. Conversion or ‘life change’ was
the key to individual and societal salvation. It aimed ‘at bringing individuals back to
God, on the old-fashioned assumption that society will be made right when the
individuals composing it are made right’. A one-step methodology could solve all the
world’s problems. As the European nations edged closer to war in the late 1930s, the
Oxford Group’s slogan changed to ‘Moral Rearmament’.57 ‘God-controlled’
individuals were to be the solution to conflict and the preservation of peace.58 The
Oxford Group Movement had transitioned beyond the quest for revival and ‘vital
religion’ to adopt a reductionist and unrealistic view of international conflict
resolution. It offered a simple solution to a complex problem, which for some, lacked
integrity and rigour.
Young people were attracted to the Movement.59 The group-centred approach
appealed to young adults, some of whom looked to the group to meet both spiritual
and social needs.60 The informality of group meetings, minimalist structure,
opportunity to exercise and explore personal divine guidance disciplines, daily quiet
53
ACC, 11 September 1936, 14.
Advertiser, 30 January 1933, 6; 1 February 1936, 17; 29 February 1936, 23; 25 March 1936, 14; 16
May 1936, 25; 4 June 1936, 19;
55
Advertiser, 29 February 1936, 23; 4 June 1936, 19.
56
ACC, 11 September 1936, 14.
57
ACC, 27 January 1933, 5. The topic of Moral Rearmament received occasional press coverage in
the Adelaide dailies during the early part of 1939. Articles often cited Buchman’s teaching on the
relationship between a ‘new spiritual outlook’ and international peace. See for example, Advertiser, 3
January 1939, 14; 7 January 1939, 22.
58
ACC, 3 July 1936, 5.
59
ACC, 8 November 1935, 3; Advertiser, 28 January 1933, 7.
60
Advertiser, 5 April 1938, 11.
54
287
times for biblical and personal reflection, fellowship, and sharing one’s spiritual
pilgrimage in the light of the four absolutes, appealed as imaginative agents of youth
self-expression.61
The Movement was not a precursor to revival, or the agent of revival in South
Australian Methodism in the 1930s. It had little effect on church membership
statistics during the decade, which remained relatively static around the mid-27,000
figure from 1933 to 1939. Unlike Britain, where the Movement had a ‘major impact
on religious life’,62 its South Australian Methodist experience was diffuse, localised,
and barely discernible against the highly structured and visible entities of the
denomination. As a movement encompassing Christians of various persuasions, it
worked to engender mutual respect and understanding. For those without or with
little contact with the church, the Movement supplied the basis for a non-church
simplified Evangelical religion, based on the easily remembered four absolutes of
purity, honesty, love, and unselfishness. Here was a simple and precise method to
review and measure the spiritual life. For Methodists, however, ‘there is no doubt
that many found their religious enthusiasm rekindled and their discipleship
challenged’.63
With its informality and lack of structure, emphasis on divine guidance,
expressionism, spontaneity, and appeal to young people, the Movement assisted in
laying the groundwork for charismatic renewal in the 1960s and 70s.64 Its lack of
institutional form was both a strength and a weakness. An Oxford Group Movement
rhetoric-driven revival failed to produce the converts necessary for either widespread
individual or societal transformation. Some Methodists were unmoved by the religiocultural demands of generational expressionism, while others found it helpful.
Following its transition to Moral Rearmament in 1938, and the outbreak of the
Second World War, the Oxford Group Movement virtually disappeared from South
Australian Methodism. Much of the Movement’s work, over-shadowed by the War,
61
Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, 236-237. ACC, 10 February 1939, 8.
David Bebbington, ‘Evangelism and Spirituality in Twentieth-Century Protestant Nonconformity’,
in Alan P. F. Sell and Anthony R. Cross, eds., Protestant Nonconformity in the Twentieth Century
(Carlisle: Paternoster, 2003), 198.
63
Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 346.
64
Mark Hutchinson and John Wolffe, A Short History of Global Evangelicalism, 165. On
expressionism, see Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, 241.
62
288
and, in the minds of some, with Buchman’s praise of Hitler, lost momentum within
Methodism and the wider community. A letter to the Advertiser soon after the war
commenced reflected the attitude:
Those who supported…Dr Frank Buchman (founder of the Oxford Group)
will no doubt like to be reminded of one of the doctor’s most profound and
most famous sayings. ‘Thank God for a man like Hitler, who will stand
against the Antichrist of Communism’.65
It was a somewhat ignominious note to a Movement embraced by many South
Australian Methodists that promised much by way of revival, but delivered little.
Conference Evangelist – 1939
In 1939, the Methodist Conference re-instituted the post of Conference
Evangelist and appointed the ‘splendidly qualified’exit student of Wesley College,
the Rev. E. N. Broomhead, to the position.66 Concerned about the lack of
conversions recorded for the years 1938 and 1939, decline in Christian Endeavour
participation, relatively static membership, and the rapid growth of the Order of
Knights and Girls’ Comradeship, combined with the young adults and students of
Oxford Group persuasion, Conference made evangelism a priority. The appointment
was an acknowledgment that circuits required the supplemental effort of a specialist
evangelist with an ability to work with young people. Made possible by the gift of
250 pounds from Hartley Gladstone Hawkins (1877-1939), Broomhead conducted
circuit missions of up to ten days duration in eight Adelaide suburban and seven
country circuits in 1939.67 The suspension of all normal church activities and events
during the missions ensured maximum evangelistic effort.
Overall, there was some ‘quickening of spiritual life’, re-consecrations,
‘moderately attended’ meetings, and a widespread appreciation of the evangelist’s
65
Advertiser, 21 September 1939, 14.
ACC, 10 February 1939, 4; 17 February 1939, 1. The last person to occupy the position was the
Rev. H.F. Lyons (1921 and 1922).
67
Hartley Gladstone Hawkins was a farmer and grazier from the mid-North of the state. He was
chairman of the South Australian Farmers Cooperative Union 1922-1939, and served on the councils
of both Prince Alfred and Wesley Colleges, and board of the Memorial Hospital. He served as a
member of the Legislative Council 1933-1939. See Howard Coxon, John Playford and Robert Reid,
eds., Biographical Register of the South Australian Parliament 1857-1957 (Adelaide: Wakefield
Press, 1985), 104; Methodist Church of Australasia, Minutes of South Australia Conference, 1940,
186-187.
66
289
work.68 With the completion of Broomhead’s first year, some 208 conversions and
170 re-consecrations were reported to Conference; this indicated the modest
numerical gains achieved.69 The conversions obtained probably accounted for most
of the 276 increase in membership for 1939, which reversed the decline of the
previous year. Although the missions focussed on churchgoers, the difficulty in
attracting the ‘man in the street’ often demanded explanation:
It has to be recognised that in our modern world, where the blizzards of
materialism are blowing so freely, that the work of the evangelist, whether
young or mature, local or imported, is bristling with difficulties.
A world that has so tremendously yielded to lawlessness and violence, to the
mesmerism of gaiety and gambling, and the snare of physical indulgence
and greed of gain is not a likely field in which to reap extensive results of a
spiritual character.70
Although there were those who were critical of the role of the special evangelist,
preferring to limit the role of evangelism to the local circuit minister, Broomhead
nevertheless demonstrated the value of the specialist evangelist to secure
conversions.71
Broomhead’s eagerness for conversions continued the revivalist ethos of
Methodist ‘vital religion’, which had began in 1840 with the Eggleston-led Wesleyan
revival. In this way Methodism, as an evangelical institution maintained its linkages
to the inherited revivalist tradition of the Evangelical Revival. However, Methodism
was not immune to the on-going intellectual challenges faced by churches in the
aftermath of the First World War. The challenges of liberalism and modernism,
terms often used inter-changeably, dominated this period.
Liberalism and Modernism – 1920s and 1930s
In February 1923, the Australian Christian Commonwealth, reproduced an article
entitled, ‘Are the Evangelical Churches Declining?’, which appeared in the nondenominational Australian Christian World. Concerned about the future of
evangelical churches, the article asserted:
68
ACC, 2 June 1939, 15; 18 August 1939, 16.
Methodist Church of Australasia, Minutes of South Australia Conference, 1940, 186.
70
ACC, 8 December 1939, 14.
71
Minutes, 1940, 186.
69
290
There has also been a rapid spread of ‘Modernistic’ teaching in the pulpits of
some of the churches, and this, combined with the publication of what is
termed ‘assured results’ of the investigations of the ‘Higher Critics’ into the
authenticity and inspiration of the writings contained in the Bible. This has
created grave doubts in the minds of many people regarding the genuineness
and reliability of the sacred writings, and has also weakened the authority of
the churches, which have, hitherto, based that authority on the ‘impregnable
rock’ of Holy Scriptures. This has led to a weakening of their attachment for
a church in which they have lost faith, and finally, to their desertion of that
church and their linking-up with some other denomination where they hope
to find freedom from the constant flux and change of religious opinions. 72
‘Modernism’ can be defined as ‘an attempt to present Christianity in terms of modern
thought, to translate traditional doctrines into a contemporary idiom’.73 As such,
modernism was not a monolithic system of thought; more of an approach to religious
truth, an attitude of mind in which our understanding of God was ‘evolving’.74
In the 1920s and 1930s, the rising influence of modernism was felt throughout
the Australian churches. In the 1930s, the most publicised and controversial case was
that of Samuel Angus, Professor of New Testament at the Presbyterian Theological
Hall in Sydney. Angus disputed the doctrine of human depravity as contained in the
Westminster Confession, denied the physical resurrection of Jesus following the
crucifixion, and disputed the virgin birth. The long-running divisive case weakened
the Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational churches in New South Wales.
Sydney Anglicanism responded to the crisis by ‘deposing liberal evangelicals’. The
Baptist Theological College strengthened ‘sound evangelical teaching’ under the
leadership of G. H. Morling, who was principal for forty years. Meanwhile in
Victoria, the Anglican minister, C. H. Nash, was able to effectively consolidate,
inspire and nurture numerous lay people with conservative evangelical views against
the influence of liberalism. He utilised the Melbourne Bible Institute, the Upwey
Convention, the Bible Union of Australia, and the City Men’s Bible Class for this
purpose. In Australian universities, evangelical student societies such as the InterVarsity Fellowship of Evangelical Unions (IVF), which by 1934 had branches in
every Australian university, were established to counter the influence of liberalism
72
ACC, 16 February 1923, 715.
Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, 181-182.
74
McLeod, Religion and Society in England, 1850-1914, 169-220.
73
291
within the universities.75
In South Australia during the 1920s and 1930s, the intellectual challenges posed
by liberalism were being tackled by various denominations including the Anglicans,
Congregationalists, and the Baptists. At the end of the First World War, South
Australian Baptists overall, ‘were more liberal in their theology than Baptists in the
other states’.76 Some Baptist churches responded to concerns about denominational
decline in the 1920s, and the influence of ‘modern’ theology, by inviting
conservative evangelical ministers to their pastorates; others were invited to conduct
evangelistic and teaching missions. Conservative evangelical Baptists also supported
the establishment of a United Bible Conference in Victor Harbor in the late 1920s to
undertake ‘aggressive evangelism’, as well as holiness and prophetic teaching. They
had representatives on the board of the Evangelisation Society of South Australia,
helped to establish the Adelaide Bible Institute in 1924, and supported Howard
Guinness, the British evangelist, to establish an IVF for students at Adelaide
University in 1934. The IVF promoted Bible study, prayer, evangelism, and
missionary work. Walker contends that these initiatives represented a conservative
evangelical resurgence among South Australian Baptists in the 1920s and 1930s.
Despite this, Walker estimates that in 1934, of the thirty active Baptist ministers in
South Australia, approximately half were conservative evangelicals, half were liberal
evangelicals, and one was liberal.
By the 1920s, liberal clergy were also influential in South Australian
Congregationalism. They were attracted to the so-called ‘New Theology’ of R. J.
Campbell, minister at City Temple, London, from 1903 to 1915. Campbell’s
theology was popularised in Adelaide by such ministers as Alfred Depledge Sykes, a
leader amongst liberal ministers in Adelaide in the decade before the First World
War. Sykes emphasised a ‘progressive gospel open to new light and truth’. He
advocated that Christians jettison traditional doctrines such as the atonement, the fall,
and the miraculous. South Australian Congregationalism accommodated extreme
theological liberalism, where the individual exercised final authority over matters of
75
Piggin, Spirit, Word and World, 91-96; H. R. Jackson, Churches and People, 125-137.
Information on Baptists in South Australia from John Walker, ‘The Baptists in South Australia,
circa 1900 to 1939’ (PhD thesis, Flinders University, 2006), 99-115. Quote at 114.
76
292
doctrine.77
Within South Australian Methodism in the 1920s and 1930s, theological
modernism continued to challenge long held traditional doctrines. As Methodist
revivalism underwent change and adaptation in the 1930s, many of the intellectual
challenges faced by Methodism in the late nineteenth century re-surfaced and reawakened the somewhat familiar debates. Darwinian evolutionary theory continued
to challenge the authority of the Bible. Some church leaders sought to adapt the
findings of science with the latest Biblical scholarship. The vast majority of
Christians, disengaged from the intellectual debates, who accepted unconditionally
the authority of the Bible as one of the essential truths of evangelical teaching,
suddenly found themselves confronted by new interpretations of Scriptural authority
and inspiration. In the first two decades of the twentieth-century, the former
Primitive Methodist, Walter Howchin (1845-1937), lecturer and honorary Professor
of Geology and Palaeontology at the University of Adelaide, worked to integrate the
insights of science with theology, while maintaining his belief in a divine designer.78
Such approaches to science and theology were understood later as attempts to ‘save
Protestantism’ from obscurity. 79
Apologists for evolution such as Howchin argued that it was necessary to reevaluate theology and spiritual experience in the light of new, particularly scientific,
knowledge. As such, the acceptance of an evolutionary principle in theological
enquiry and experience challenged conservative minds and denominational interests
intent on preserving traditional and fixed doctrinal and experiential statements.80
Revivalism depended on unalterable deposits of faith and understanding, which
provided certainties for the preacher and hearer of the revivalist message. The
changing nature of the spiritual life of the age affected the credibility of the message.
77
On Sykes, see David Hilliard’s paper, ‘Strong’s Liberal Contemporaries: Adelaide, 1870-1914’,
given at the Charles Strong Symposium, Australian Association for the Study of Religion Conference,
Adelaide, 7 July 2006; Jackson, Churches and People, 133-137.
78
On Howchin, see Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 261-265; ACC, 10 December 1937, 1; N. H.
Ludbrook, ‘Howchin, Walter (1845-1937)’, ADB, 1983, vol. 9.
79
George M. Marsden, Understanding Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism (Grand Rapids, MI:
William B. Eerdmans, 1991), 32.
80
See for example letters to the editor from various authors at issue with Walter Howchin on his
interpretations of evolutionary theory and Biblical evidence at ACC, 20 November 1903, 12; 4
December 1903, 12; 11 December 1903, 11.
293
The boundaries of science and religion and the latest biblical scholarship,
particularly critical analysis of the text, continued to alarm some in Methodism. The
word ‘criticism’ was often thought of as a negative term, implying the passing of
judgment or criticism of God’s Word in the Bible. Whether it was the debates within
Methodism nationally in the early 1920s over the acceptance of Peake’s Commentary
(1919) as a prescribed text for study by probationers,81 or those within South
Australian Methodism on ‘Evolution and the Christian Faith’, higher criticism and
the authority of the Bible, it was generally agreed that people were living through
‘anxious and perplexing times’.82 Acceptance of Peake’s Commentary by the General
Conference in 1923 did not conclude the fundamentalist-modernist debate.83 Rather,
it signalled the continuation of the debate, which had emerged in earnest with the
intellectual challenges faced by Methodism in the late nineteenth century. According
to Piggin, ‘fundamentalism’ developed within conservative evangelicalism as a
‘movement to defend Protestantism against Biblical criticism, theological liberalism,
the theory of evolution, and the social gospel’.84
Perhaps it was no accident that in the year Peake’s Commentary came on sale
(1919), and in anticipation of the challenges to come, the title of the Methodist
weekly periodical Australian Christian Commonwealth, dropped the secondary
descriptor ‘The Champion of Evangelical Christianity’ in favour of the more neutral
term, ‘The Organ of the Methodist Church in South Australia’.85 Historically, South
81
Arthur S. Peake’s A Commentary on the Bible was debated at the General Conference of Australian
Methodism in 1920 and 1923. It endorsed a literary-historical analysis of the Scriptures. Opposed by
the Rev. Dr W. H. Fitchett of Melbourne who claimed the commentary presented a ‘tattered Bible and
a mutilated Christ’, and supported by Dr. W. G. Torr of Adelaide, the work was accepted by the
General Conference of 1923 and marked the acceptance of liberalism within the Methodist Church.
See Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 264-266. For discussion in the ACC, see for example, 28 January
1921, 687; 4 February 1921, 693, 702; 25 February 1921, 750; 16 September 1921, 393; 7 April 1922,
6-7; 28 April 1922, 55; 9 March 1923, 761; 1 June 1923, 3-7. On Fitchett’s opposition to higher
criticism, see W. H. Fitchett, Where the Higher Criticism Fails: A Critique of the Destructive Critics
(New York: Methodist Book Concern, 1922).
82
ACC, 6 November 1925, 15.
83
The term ‘fundamentalist’ came to prominence about 1910 in America with the formation of the
Fundamentalist Movement. Essentially, this was in response to the ‘new criticism’ in Biblical studies
opposed by conservative Christians who committed themselves to the understanding that everything
in the Bible is true as literally interpreted. They published their findings in twelve books called The
Fundamentals, hence the name. See Rodney Stark, For The Glory of God (Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 2003), 190.
84
Piggin, Spirit, Word and World, 79. See also 80-83.
85
The complete title of the paper was Australian Christian Commonwealth: The Organ of the
Methodist Church in South Australia and the Champion of Evangelical Christianity. This title first
294
Australian Methodism championed evangelical Christianity through its highly visible
practice of revivalism. Revivalism’s relatively widespread practice and comparative
success within Methodism was unique among the churches from early colonial days
until the First World War. From 1919 however, this distinction and claim fell out of
favour in the context of a liberalised evangelicalism and modernist understandings of
the Bible.
Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, debates over the merits of the ‘old Orthodoxy’
and newer understandings were neither conclusive nor without willing proponents on
both sides of the fundamentalist-modernist divide. Foundational to the debate was a
diversity of opinion over the definition of terms. Invariably, lack of precision ensured
that an accommodation of viewpoints proved elusive, correspondents lacked clarity
on what constituted the core issues, and on occasions the strong use of emotive
language illustrated the intensity of the debate as contributors attempted to validate
their arguments by referring to perceived negative personality traits.86
Effect of Liberalism and Modernism on Revivalism
During the inter-war period, Methodist revivalism lost the momentum it
experienced up until the First World War. During the period 1914 to 1939,
conversions reported at revival meetings averaged 113 per year, while for the period
1866 to 1901, it was 543. In particular, during the decade of the 1930s, conversions
averaged only 52 per year.87 To what extent did liberalism and modernism affect the
practice of revivalism?
Indirectly, the periodic debates on controversial issues fostered unease and
uncertainty within Methodism. At the intellectual level, the exchange of information
and viewpoints helped those engaged in the debate to clarify and refine their
respective positions. For many Methodists, however, the claims of Modernism only
created confusion, disquiet, and emotional pain. A letter to the editor of the
Australian Christian Commonwealth in 1932 from a ‘Loyal Methodist’ revealed
appeared on 4th January 1901, after South Australian Methodist Union came into effect on 31
December 1900. The new title first appeared in January 1919 with the additional words, ‘The
Challenge Of The New Era’, placed above the title.
86
See for example, ACC, 27 May 1932, 5; 10 June 1932, 4-5.
87
See statistical analysis in Chapter 9.
295
frustration and disappointment:
I (along with many other loyal members of the Methodist Church) am
deeply pained from time to time by articles appearing in the ‘A.C.C’. In
these days of deep perplexity and distress we look to our Church paper to
bring to our hearts words of hope, encouragement, admonition, reproof and
counsel, but instead we frequently find tennis notes and articles teaching
Evolution and Modernism, written by people who must surely have had their
eyes blinded by unbelief. As a people, we believe God, and accept ‘The
Bible’ as our final authority. ‘In six days the Lord made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that in them is’. Why not believe it? God said it.
I have not written with any idea of provoking a controversy, but am
compelled to utter this protest that I may deliver my soul, for we are starving
for the ‘Blessed Hope’.88
How many other Methodists were of the same persuasion is impossible to assess.
Anecdotal evidence can only suggest possibilities. According to the Rev. H. Pope, 75
per cent of Methodists were ‘Fundamentalists’.89 How many ministers regarded
themselves as such is likewise a matter of conjecture. However, we do know that at
the 1923 Annual Conference’s ministerial vote on whether to exclude Peake’s
Commentary from the list of Probationer’s books, twenty-five voted in favour of the
motion for elimination, while sixty-seven voted for its retention. This would suggest
that by the early 1920s, a majority of ministers were in favour of a shift toward a
more liberal evangelicalism, one that accommodated elements of the literary-critical
analysis of the Bible, and evolutionary theory. 90 From 1922, with the appointment of
the Rev. Frank Lade as principal of Brighton College, the first Methodist theological
institution for ministerial training, then Wesley College from 1927, and the Rev.
Percy Eckersley as tutor in 1927, then principal following Lade’s retirement in 1938,
liberal evangelicalism certainly remained influential. According to Arnold Hunt,
‘both Lade and Eckersley were liberal evangelicals, endorsing the critical study of
the Bible yet believing that it was the supreme source of religious truth’.91 Following
cooperation with the Congregational ministerial institution, Parkin College, from
1937, Methodist students encountered the Rev Edward S. Kiek, a formidable
exponent of liberal Protestantism in Australia. 92 By the early 1930s, higher criticism
88
ACC, 15 April 1932, 12.
ACC, 29 April 1932, 16.
90
ACC, 9 March 1923, 761.
91
Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 339-340.
92
Walter Phillips, Edward S. Kiek: Liberal Churchman (Adelaide: Uniting Church Historical Society
89
296
had clearly won acceptance by the ministerial leadership, in a church wherein,
according to Pope, up to three quarters of the laity were of fundamentalist
persuasion.
To what extent ministers preached with obvious reference to matters of higher
criticism is difficult to assess. It would be reasonable to suggest that most ministers
avoided statements that referred to critical scholarship for fear of alienating
members. No doubt there were those who, out of deference to a laity who were better
educated and interested in the conclusions of a revised scholarship, attempted to
incorporate such findings. A layman complained in 1932 of ‘three modern
Reverends’, one who spoke of the origin of life in the oceans, another who dismissed
Genesis 1 as only a ‘legend’ and not a ‘correct story’, and a third who spoke of Noah
and the Ark also as legend. This indicates that the new scholarship influenced
preachers and hearers alike.93
One of the aspects of church life most affected by the Fundamentalist-Modernist
divide was preaching. Addressing the members of Conference in 1932, the President
reminded his colleagues of the centrality of preaching for the denomination:
Preach nothing but what you believe with a firm faith. Be simply sincere,
and true to your deepest convictions. Doubt paralyses the preacher, both in
his preaching and in his working.
You have nothing to do but to save souls. To make your preaching effective
there must be a passion to save men from their sins, and to bring them into
personal allegiance to Christ.
Keen to remind the Conference of the ongoing importance of revivalism, the
President added:
The days of revivals has not gone by. It was the incessant evangelistic
preaching of the early Methodists that gave them their success. We must
imitate their methods if we would enjoy their success.. Where the Evangel
is, the Revival will come – we need it, and the world demands it.94
The President’s exhortation illustrated the level of concern.95 After all, the most
in South Australia, 1981). See also Walter Phillips, ‘Kiek, Edward Sidney (1883-1959)’, ADB, vol. 9,
1983.
93
ACC, 20 May 1932, 3.
94
ACC, 11 March 1932, 4.
95
The last significant revivalist event was the English led Norman Dunning Crusade in 1928, with
297
notable revival was that conducted by the conservative Methodist minister, George
Brown on behalf of the Evangelisation Society of South Australia. Brown visited
local Methodist communities in the country region south of Adelaide over a six-week
period in 1930, and reported sixty-four conversions.96 The evangelist Brown
captured the anti-Modernist stance of rural Methodists with his simple and direct
gospel presentations and calls for commitment, which typified the work and
approach of the Society.
Clearly the President was aware that there were preachers for whom ‘firm faith’
and ‘deep convictions’ were not as certain as perhaps they once were. Doubts and
uncertainties paralysed preaching. One preacher who articulated similar concerns
was the Rev. J. H. Watts:
The principle contribution of Modernism to the Christian faith seems to have
been that of destroying the strong dominant note of assurance in the
preaching of the Gospel. Is this not pathetic in this time of world-wide
trouble and unrest when multitudes are hungering and asking for bread, and
are being given the cold stones of doubt instead, and that by the hands of
those who hold Christ’s commission: ‘Feed My sheep’. Has not the effect of
Modernism been to cast uncertainty upon the whole of the Gospel message,
and that at a time when the world needs it so sorely?97
Modernism denied some Methodist preachers the platform of certainty and assurance
needed to preach with conviction – something they once took for granted. In
particular, short-term revivalist preaching depended on the established credibility of
both the message and the messenger considered essential for effective preaching. On
the other hand, the liberals argued that as human understanding of divine truth
evolves, then religious certainty does not exist; it is progressive. 98
This lack of conviction and certainty in preaching was not an issue for the Oxford
Group Movement, with its emphasis on an inclusive movement characterised by
house parties, group sharing, personal testimony, and a lack of traditional preaching
and ministerial dominant leadership. Enthusiastic support for the Movement masked
‘hundreds of decisions’ reported. The six to eight month long ‘Spiritual Advance Crusades’ led by the
Australian Methodist William Shaw from 1929 to 1931, produced few conversions overall. See
Appendix1 for details.
96
See Appendix 1 for details.
97
Letter J. H. Watts to the editor ACC, 20 May 1932, 3.
98
Hilliard, Strong’s Liberal Contemporaries, 5.
298
a crisis of confidence in the nature of preaching and the task of traditional revivalism.
One of the main criticisms of Modernism was that it failed to find an objective
basis for belief. There was no doubt in the mind of one of the most outspoken critics
of modernism in the mid-1920s, the Methodist minister, H. T. Rush, who derided
Modernism as that which:
Claims to be the latest in Christianity, but has parted with all that for long
centuries has been distinctive of that religion.
Truth to the Modernist seems to be an unknown.
Naturally the Modernist does not deal in creeds. The Modernist is like a
traveller wandering through a vast forest with no certain destination in view.
The Modernist builds largely on the doctrine of evolution.
We may love the Modernist, admire his moral character, his earnestness, his
eloquence; but we cannot let him speak in the place of God to us. We must
hold fast the old doctrines – the incarnation – because it is bedrock, and it is
no use trusting in the Cross if it is erected on quicksand.
We must have a real atonement, a real heaven, a real Christ, and a real
experience of life in Christ.99
Hence, fundamentalists believed that modernism had abandoned the historic basis of
the Christian faith and interpreted doctrine through the lens of evolutionary theory.
Perhaps the most outspoken critic of fundamentalism in the 1930s was Eckersley,
who under the nom de plume of ‘Cyril Wheaton’, was editor of the Australian
Christian Commonwealth during his years as tutor at Wesley College. With a
vitriolic intensity that might offend a contemporary reader of a church newspaper, he
referred to one contributor in favour of fundamentalism as one ‘who swaggered into
this controversy with such a confident strut’ and whose contribution was ‘very
disappointing’. According to Eckersley, his letter was written in such a way that
‘only one or two portions of its loose question-begging confusedness require
attention’.100 Eckersley predicated his entire attack on fundamentalism by exposing
the ‘lie’, as he called it, of the literal inerrancy of the Bible:
The basis of Fundamentalism is bibliolatry. The all-important dogma is the
literal inerrancy of the Bible. This dogma is demonstrably untrue. To deny
the inspiration of the Bible is to reveal some spiritual deficiency. To assert
the inerrancy of the Bible, in face of the plain facts to the contrary, is
intellectual dishonesty. This is the sin of Fundamentalism. Fundamentalism,
99
ACC, 4 June 1926, 9.
ACC, 10 June 1932, 5.
100
299
therefore, is a lie.
The tenets of the so-called Fundamental Association are mainly inadequate
theories. 101
Accused by one correspondent of ‘waging the Modernist battle’, Eckersley focussed
his sustained editorial thrusts on attempting to dismantle fundamentalism, without
constructing a basis of credible belief in modernism that was plausible to some
Methodist readers.102 Hence, the Rev. F. W. Brasher assessed Eckersley’s
understanding of ‘Modernism’, defined as ‘a faith that can make terms with science
and philosophy’, as ‘delightfully nebulous’.103
There was an important matter of apparent agreement between Modernism and
Fundamentalism – the subjective authority of religious experience. 104 Methodist
ministers maintained that personal religious experience and holiness (practical
morality), was the main basis from which to defend Christianity. As Wibberley, an
earlier editor of the Australian Christian Commonwealth, put it:
Holiness is the only orthodoxy, and the practical piety of its people makes
the Church more invulnerable than a walled city. To develop holiness in
men is the task God’s providence sets before itself, and is the sole aim of her
Christian redemption.105
South Australian Methodists debated opposing views of the Bible while avoiding
schism. It was more important to know ‘in Whom I believe’, than ‘in What I
believe’, as ‘Methodists appreciated an experience more than a dissertation’.106 To
know Christ personally and live accordingly was more important than things said
about Christ, the Bible or theology.107 Denominational loyalty enabled some to
exercise ‘severe’ criticism ‘fearlessly and faithfully’ yet remain bound by ‘sacred
ties’ to the Methodist Church.108 Probably for many Methodists in the pews, such
assurances were a sufficient bulwark against the inroads of intellectual assault.
101
ACC, 22 April 1932, 15.
ACC, 10 June 1932, 3.
103
ACC, 27 May 1932, 5.
104
See for example ACC, 22 April 1932, 15 for editorial comment. ACC, 27 May 1932, 5 for an
agreed lay perspective.
105
Editorial, ACC, 7 August 1903, 8-9.
106
Editorial, ACC, 7 August 1903, 9; Editorial, ACC, 16 May 1902, 8.
107
Editorial, ACC, 7 August 1903, 8.
108
Letter J. H. Watts to the editor ACC 20 May 1932, 3 in support of fundamentalism.
102
300
Liberalism and modernism also indirectly affected the practice of revivalism
through what some Methodists believed was an elimination of the miraculous and the
supernatural from religion.109 Whereas the liberals spoke of gradualism imbued with
the unfolding nature of progressive evolutionary theory, and of the presence of divine
elements in the natural, the revivalist spoke of the dramatic work of the Holy Spirit
in regenerating and cleansing the convert from sin, and of the ‘Baptism of the Holy
Spirit’ as power for service. Hence, conservatives accused modernists of ‘glorifying
reason’ and ‘eliminating those supernatural elements that make it repulsive to the
modern mind’.110 According to Rush, ‘there is a general revolt against the
supernatural in the Christian religion, and a tendency to stress unduly the ethical and
the social. These and other things favour modernism’.111 In the midst of the Great
Depression of the 1930s, modernist preaching identified with social engagement in a
world of suffering and injustice, while revivalist preaching still emphasised
conversion and accentuated supernaturalism in a world of sin. Social action and
evangelism, when separated and played off against one another, tended to identify
with modernism and fundamentalism respectively. An attempt at institutional
integration of these two elements formed part of the theological rationale for the
establishment of the Adelaide Central Methodist Mission in 1900. The two elements
of social action and evangelism existed in tension throughout its first forty years.112
A distinctly liberal stress on human accommodation and social action,
accompanied by a lessened need for a dramatic intervention of the supernatural in
conversion, weakened Methodist revivalism in the 1930s. According to the
contemporary theologian, D. Lyle Dabney, Wesley understood a more encompassing
work of the Holy Spirit and consequently ‘he could write that the “inspiration of the
Spirit”, by which he meant the whole of the work of the Spirit with the Father and
the Son in creation and redemption to consummation, is “the main doctrine of the
Methodists”’.113 The fractionalising of the supernatural working of God occurred as
See for example letter J. H. Watts to editor ACC, 6 May 1932, 5; Articles by the Rev. H. T. Rush,
ACC, 4 June 1926, 9; 26 November 1926, 12.
110
Article by H. T. Rush in ACC, 4 June 1926, 9.
111
Ibid.
112
Brian J. Chalmers, ‘Need, Not Creed’.
113
Quoted in D. Lyle Dabney, ‘Pneumatology in the Methodist Tradition’, in William J. Abraham and
James E. Kirby, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Methodist Studies (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2009), 573-586, at 580.
109
301
fundamentalists and modernists defined and re-defined what was supernatural and
what was not, and therefore embedded divisions that still exist in the contemporary
church.
Conclusion
During the inter-war period, Methodism attempted to maintain and revive its
evangelical credentials as it continued to proclaim a gospel of a full and free
salvation. Methodists continued to look for a national revival of religion, which
would transform society. Methodism embraced the Oxford Group Movement in an
effort to revalidate its credentials as a vital religion, and in doing so highlighted some
of the challenges of a liberalised evangelicalism on traditional Methodism.
The adaptability of Methodist ‘vital religion’ was apparent in its ability to both
accommodate and reject elements of critical scholarship and modern thinking. By the
late 1930s, revivalism, once undergirded by the certainties of the ‘old Orthodoxy’,
was no longer widely accepted within Methodism. Liberalism and modernism
challenged the understanding that revivalism was still the instrument of choice for
both conversion and growth in holiness, and precipitated, for some Methodist clergy,
a crisis of confidence and assurance in the role of evangelistic preaching.
302
CONCLUSION
This thesis set out to answer the principal question of this study, namely, what
was the extent and nature of revivalism within South Australian Methodism from
1838 to 1939? It has shown that historians have under-reported the nature and extent
of revivalism within South Australian Methodism and it has demonstrated that
revivalism was far more extensive and significant than previously thought. The thesis
has identified revivalism as the main reason why Methodism became the largest nonAnglican Protestant religion in South Australia by 1900. It has argued that revivalism
provided the Methodist churches with an effective methodology for conversionary
growth in the quest for ‘vital religion’ – a religion of the heart. For Methodism,
revivalism was a very significant factor, which produced the conversions necessary
to expand its membership and encompass 25 per cent of the state’s self-described
Methodist population by 1900.
A significant element of ‘vital religion’ was that it presupposed an individual
conversionary experience, which normally preceded growth in holiness, and an
activist commitment to works of service. Therefore, this thesis required an
investigation into the numerical evidence for reported conversions. The evidence,
gathered from primary sources and collated in Appendix 1, demonstrates that
revivals occurred frequently in South Australian Methodism. When combined with
census data, this provides the basis for the various statistical observations made about
the extent of Methodist revivalism. Additionally, conversion data assisted in the
selection of subject matter for inclusion in the historical narrative. This has resulted
in a selective overview, rather than a comprehensive account of revivalism in South
Australian Methodism. The narrative then provided the basis for examining aspects
of the nature of Methodist revivalism in the period.
Although the theme of holiness has not been the major concern of this thesis,
some examination of what constituted holiness for Methodists was undertaken. This
was necessary, because temperance and Sunday observance, identified as key
elements of holiness, challenged over time the need for a conversionary experience
as the gateway to ‘vital religion’. Observations made in the thesis on temperance and
303
Sunday observance and their effect on revivalism are preliminary, and more
investigation is required. What can we conclude about the nature of revivalism in the
first one hundred years of South Australian Methodist history?
First, revivalism was an important part of South Australian Methodism. From
1838 to 1939, Methodism experienced a proliferation of localised city and country
revivals that helped it to become the most significant conversionary religious
movement within South Australian Protestantism by the end of the nineteenthcentury. How then, do we contextualize South Australian Methodist revivalism
within an international evangelical worldview?
According to Darren Schmidt, John Wesley located the ‘Methodist Revival
within the panorama of redemption history’.1 As a theologian, Wesley understood
that revival depended on divine ‘providence’ and ‘eschatological progression’ in
which
God occasionally might bring an initial ‘torrent of grace’, but more typically
would work in gentle, subtle ways; God’s kingdom would ‘silently increase
wherever it is set up. And spread from heart to heart, from house to house,
from town to town, from one kingdom to another’.2
South Australian Methodism in its first one-hundred years fell broadly in line
with the experience of eighteenth-century British and American evangelicals, for
whom revivals were an integral part of historical interpretation.3 South Australian
Wesleyans in particular were a revival denomination. Hence, Methodist ‘vital
religion’ looked constantly for a ‘torrent of grace’, for the spread and revival of heart
religion. What it experienced was more in line with the progressive nature of
kingdom extension in which the localised revival, ‘from town to town’, co-existed as
counterpoint to the daily demands of institutional evangelical religion. Hence, the
revival, with its power to convert, provided Methodism with significant periods of
membership and self-described growth. By 1901, one-quarter of South Australia’s
population declared themselves ‘Methodist’. For local churches, the most tangible
1
Darren Schmidt, ‘The Pattern of Revival: John Wesley’s Vision of “Iniquity” and “Godliness” in
Church History’, in Kate Cooper and Jeremy Gregory, eds., Revivals and Resurgence in Christian
History, Studies in Church History 44, (Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press, 2008), 145.
2
Schmidt, ‘The Pattern of Revival’, 150-151.
3
Schmidt, ‘The Pattern of Revival’, 152.
304
outcomes of revivalist activity were larger attendances and new members. Until the
First World War, the revival was the instrument of choice to induce, within
individuals, the journey from casual hearer to committed member, from nominal to
‘vital religion’.
Second, the experience of conversion, also known as ‘decisions for Christ’ from
the 1890s, was the core component of any religious revival. William G.
McLoughlin’s definition of revival accommodates the centrality of conversion:
Any series of spontaneous or organised meetings, which produce religious
conversions, whether they occur in one church, a dozen churches, or in
hundreds under the leadership of a spectacular itinerant evangelist.4
The foremost evangelistic aim of South Australian Methodists was revivalist
conversions, whether the result of a protracted or instantaneous experience. Within
Methodism’s large self-described cohort, the nominal Christian often responded to
the claims of ‘vital religion’. However true this was for the nineteenth century, by the
beginning of the twentieth, there were signs of a less than exclusive focus on the
conversion or ‘new birth’ experience to define the initiatory rite of the vital
religionist. Certainly, in the aftermath of the First World War, conversion came to be
regarded, in the language of one social scientist, as one of a ‘set of minimalist criteria
for evangelical membership’.5 Other signs of a quasi-official nature included gospel
temperance and Sabbath observance, as indicators of separation from the broader
culture and markers of religious ‘product differentiation’ due to religious competition
between denominations.6
Third, revivals, whether of the more spontaneous type or as the result of planned
measures, a distinction noted by Calvin Cotton, an American proponent of revivals in
the 1830s,7 occurred in both forms within South Australian Methodism. Of the 574
4
William G. McLoughlin, Modern Revivalism: Charles Grandison Finney to Billy Graham, (New
York: Ronald Press Company, 1959), 7.
5
Lyman A. Kellstedt, ‘The Meaning and Measurement of Evangelicalism: Problems and Prospects’,
in T. G. Jelen ed., Religion and Political Behaviour in the United States, (New York: Praeger, 1989),
5.
6
Roger Finke and Rodney Stark, The Churching of America 1776-1990: Winners and Losers in our
Religious Economy, (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1992).
7
John Kent, Holding the Fort: Studies in Victorian Revivalism, (London: Epworth Press, 1978), 1718.
305
revival-type events identified in Appendix 1, unplanned or spontaneous revivals
accounted for 1.4 per cent (8) of all revivals, while those of a planned or deliberate
nature accounted for 87.6 per cent. For another 11 per cent of all revivals, it was not
possible to determine whether they were spontaneous or planned.8 While the
Methodist or Evangelical Revival was the touchstone for the movement’s revivalist
ethos, it is clear that petition and the use of planned measures for revival governed its
practice within South Australian Methodism. Although the majority of the
spontaneous revivals occurred in the colony’s first forty years, by the mid-1870s, the
planned event had gained widespread acceptance. According to editor of the Bible
Christian Magazine: ‘The blessedness of this [planned revival] is not lessened
because it may be the fruit of special effort and striving after a state of things. And
none of us will quarrel with it where it is the regular rather than the extraordinary
course of church life’.9 If holier living was the outcome of a revival, then this was
more important than the type of revival that produced it.
Fourth, Methodist revivalism was well suited to the demands of a frontier, rural,
and expanding colony in the nineteenth century. The copper mining industry, with its
attractiveness to the popular revivalism of the Cornish immigrants, provided regional
and cultural-religious identity for miners and their families at Kapunda, Burra, and
Moonta, and after-mining farmers in adjacent regions, such as the Central Hill
Country in the 1850s and 1860s. The ratio of country to city revivals was at least 3:1
throughout the nineteenth century and increased to 5:1 during the inter-war period.
Methodism revivalism flourished in the country, interpolated into the rhythm and
quiet tenor of an agrarian seasonal lifestyle, but languished by comparison in the city
with its emergent cosmopolitan lifestyle. Comparing Methodist membership as a
percentage of the total population, we find that in the period 1860 to 1939, the figure
oscillated in the range 4.1 to 4.7. This exceeds the British figure of around 2.5 to 2.8,
but is less than the American figure of 4 to 6 percent over the period 1830 to 1870.10
8
Percentages calculated from the data in Appendix 1.
South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, August 1874, 4.
10
The South Australian Methodist figure for 1881 is outside the stated range at 3.4%, when the census
years only are included in the range. For the British and American graph, see Richard Carwardine,
Transatlantic Revivalism: Popular Evangelicalism in Britain and America, 1790-1865, (Westport,
CT: Greenwood Press, 1978), 48.
9
306
In rural areas, contextual factors, social, ethnic, and economic, as well as the
homogeneity of close-knit townships affected the practice of revivalism. Townships
such as Callington, Burra, Moonta, Kapunda, Auburn, and Mintaro provide good
examples. Factors such as community identity, personal knowledge of the residents,
a widespread expectation of revivals often promoted by word-of-mouth, and the
influence of leading community figures such as mine managers and employers,
coalesced once a revival started to exert favourable social and psychological
pressures on townsfolk to attend and convert. Sometimes, when revivals extended
their reach into the community, businesses such as hotels lost customers, and others
closed temporarily as townships came into closer conformity with the temperance
and Sabbath observance demands of Methodist ‘vital religion’. The local revival was
the most effective way of making ‘vital religion’ come alive for the colonists.
Adelaide city and suburban revivals, although fewer in number, tended to attract
the professional, urban, itinerant evangelist from overseas. These commenced with
the visit of William ‘California’ Taylor in 1865. Popular revivalism of this nature
reached its peak with the Chapman and Alexander missions of 1909 and 1912. It
waned thereafter, unable to recover in the aftermath of the First World War, and by
the 1920s it was only re-invigorated by the visit of Smith Wigglesworth, the
emergence of Pentecostal revivalism and the prospect of personal healing with the
Hickson healing mission. Overall, city revivals did produce membership additions. In
the short-term, the international revivalists, with their often simple and
uncomplicated view of the world free from the cultural complexities of nonevangelical worldviews, provided vital religionists with the certainties of conversion
within a borderless evangelicalism, and the crowd-pulling appeal of the dramatic and
professional revivalist-entertainer. In the longer term, large-scale city revivalism
tended to dissociate the convert from the supportive, more intimate influences of
small-town revivalism.
Fifth, the use of female itinerant preaching in the 1890s challenged the
traditionalists, but found ready acceptance among the predominantly rural populace.
Noted for their more decorous, middle-class approach, in contrast to the female
ranters of early nineteenth-century America, Methodist ‘lady evangelists’ were part
307
of the general move to broaden the spheres of women’s activity in the church, and
developed out of laicism, the exploration of newness, excitement, and a non-radical
challenge to the traditional stereotype of female gender.
Sixth, to meet the challenge of maintaining the revivalist heritage among itinerant
circuit ministers and local preachers, and through them the Methodist membership,
Methodist Conferences utilised four mutually inclusive interwoven strands of
activism. This was suitable, particularly for the revivals based on planned measures
that occurred over the entire period. First, up until 1887, all branches of Methodism
relied, in the main, on the exertions of the circuit ministers and local preachers to
perform the revivalist function of the preaching office. Second, in 1887, the
Wesleyans and the Bible Christians established the Conference evangelist to
supplement the work of revival in churches and circuits. The third strand involved
the international evangelist who itinerated under either Methodist,
interdenominational, or other evangelical agency auspices. The fourth strand utilised
lay-itinerants such as the ‘lady evangelists’, the Barrett Brothers, and W. G. Torr
prior to the First World War, and thereafter, in the inter-war period by members of
the Local Preachers’ Association. Overall, the four-strand strategy, aided by
Methodist connexionalism, served the purpose, notwithstanding that Conference and
local support for planned revivalist itinerations was crucial in setting the expectancy
level, determining outcomes, and effecting follow-up procedures.
Seventh, conversions were the key indicator of revivalist activity and growth.
From 1838 to 1939, revivalist activity occurred in almost every year with the
exception of the first ten years and the 1930s (five out of ten years). The oscillating
Annual Conversion Index (ACI) shown at Appendices 4-1 and 4-2, demonstrated
peaks of converting activity and troughs of lesser or minimal converting activity. The
index, as a measure of the relationship between conversion and membership,
indicates the years or periods of revivalist-produced growth and times of relative
inactivity. We have seen throughout the thesis that revivals produced conversions,
which in turn translated into both membership and self-described growth in the wider
community. Up until the First World War, Methodism grew largely because of
revivalist conversion growth, while after the War; challenges to the revivalist308
conversionary ethos saw membership grow more by means other than conversion.
This meant that Methodism received into its membership those for whom the
personal experience of conversion was more a matter of arbitration than
accommodation, and thereby weakened the very basis of Methodist ‘vital religion’.
Furthermore, ACI oscillations also indicate the longer-term cyclical nature of revival
activity, well known at a local level (e.g. Burra/Kooringa – sixteen revivals in the
period 1838 to 1913), at an average of one revival every four and a half years, and
influenced by different factors. Variable factors included the conversion of the next
group of Sunday school scholars, the level of expectancy in the congregation, or the
arrival of the next ‘spectacular’ itinerant evangelist. Sustained preaching and soulsaving, and levels of intensity required to sustain a revival once it commenced, could
not be maintained indefinitely. Economic conditions, seasonal influences,
formulations of cultural change, or even a sudden death affected the nature and
frequency of revivals.
Eighth, the importance of the conversion experience as the gateway to ‘vital
religion’, a religion of the heart, possessed a motivating power. The President of the
1917 Methodist Conference, the Rev. John Watts, described it as the ‘power of
irruptive dynamic’. According to Watts, the eschatological dimension of a ‘new
earth’ will come to reality as the Christian ‘strives successfully to build up God’s
great kingdom, and to save and sanctify this earth’.11 Revivalism produced converts
empowered to appropriate evangelical causes, such as the moral reforms of
temperance and Sabbath observance. In this way, Methodists grew in holiness. The
steady advance and dissemination of Christian values would advance progress
toward the ‘new earth’ goal. The Methodist social gospellers prior to the First World
War broadened the basis for understanding the advancement of the kingdom of God
beyond personal responsibility, to include broader social and structural issues in
society, thereby highlighting the dialectical tension between revivalism and social
reform. For the liberal-minded, the social gospel demanded the application of the
gospel for social outcomes, while for the revivalist and conversion-minded, it
compromised the individual gospel and hence was a distraction from evangelistic
action.
11
Methodist Church of Australasia, Minutes of South Australia Conference, 1917, 58.
309
Ninth, during the inter-war period, the inability of the Protestant churches to
advance the ‘Christianisation’ of the nation beyond the pre-War agenda facilitated
within Methodism an increased emphasis on the inward-looking features of
revivalism. The democratisation of revivalism, evident before the First World War,
led to the formation of lay revivalist agencies after the war. In the 1920s, lay
leadership contributed to the emergence of Pentecostalism, healing, and the Oxford
Group Movement. Emphases, which included holiness and ‘the higher Christian life’,
fostered the internalisation of Christian experience and the relegation of external
evangelistic energies to internal venture.
Tenth, the growth of these voluntary evangelistic agencies and movements in the
early twentieth-century, within or outside of Methodism, but allied to it, highlighted
a perennial tension present within ‘vital religion’ since the Evangelical Revival – that
of divided loyalty. For the individual, the issue was how to maintain loyalty to the
Methodist Church and to other evangelical polarities, particularly if they were
outside of Methodism, such as the Evangelisation Society and emerging
Pentecostalism in the 1920s, and the Oxford Group Movement in the 1930s. For the
Methodist Church, how to maintain its leadership within the spirit and practice of the
Evangelical Revival in each generation, surrounded by theological, cultural, social
and economic change, was a test of its revivalist heritage. It represented the enduring
problem that Max Weber depicted in 1922 as ‘the routinization of charisma’.12
Eleventh, revivalism, an important contributor to Methodist denominational
growth since foundation, faltered during the inter-war period. As there were fewer
revivals, there were fewer conversions. There was a loss of confidence in the
international evangelist to deliver numerical gains and an increased disconnect
between local evangelistic events and those outside the church. There was growing
uncertainty within Methodism, particularly the Conference, as to the place, nature,
and purpose of revivals. Methodism attempted to reposition itself as it moved away
from conservative evangelicalism to accommodate a more liberalised outlook, and,
in the process, fostered the emergence of minority-status Pentecostalism. Increased
democratisation of the laity through revivalist activity, the Local Preachers’ and
12
Max Weber, The Theory of Social and Economic Organisation, trans. by A. M. Henderson and
Talcott Parsons, 1947, (London: Free Press of Glencoe and Collier-Macmillan, 1947), 358-392.
310
Laymen’s Association, Intercessory Prayer Union, and support for and participation
in the non-denominational evangelical and revivalist Evangelisation Society of South
Australia, promoted the growth of lay creativity often unencumbered by the strictures
of denominationalism. Fledgling Pentecostalism relied on the innovative creativity of
its constituency to experiment with tongues speaking, healings, and other works of
the Holy Spirit as it sought self-definition and identity. Understood as either schism
within evangelicalism, or the preservation of individual belief and integrity,
Pentecostalism provided some Methodists with innovative opportunity to maintain
their ‘activism’, apprehended as one element of Bebbington’s quadrilateral
definition.13 Methodism invariably adapted itself to changes in society and although
revivalism continued up until the Second World War, it no longer enjoyed the
widespread support of its membership. The intellectual challenges of the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries created a crisis of confidence in the use of
revivalist methods and practices. No longer was traditional revivalism the method of
choice to initiate conversion. Hence, Methodists experimented in the 1920s and
1930s with other forms of revivalist activity.
Twelfth, there was no general revival, rather an undercurrent of buoyant
optimism that maintained a desire for, and expectancy of, further revivals. This was
the only constant factor among the complex influences and variables involved. With
or without economic depression, revivals occurred; without the expectancy of
individuals, churches, and the Conference, they would not have happened.
Thirteenth, temperance and Sabbatarianism can be understood as internal
challenges to the priority of revivalist conversion. Although revivalism produced
conversions, which were the gateway to ‘vital religion’, the ongoing test of religious
vitality was the standard of holiness evident in the life of the claimant. These
standards included among others, temperance and Sabbath observance. These two
characteristics were present in seed form within Methodism during the early years of
the colony, and established that Methodism’s interest in social questions began from
that time.
However, the conversion-holiness nexus, as the over-arching goal of
13
Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, 3.
311
Methodism, never eventuated as a seamless process in which the latter depended on
the fulfilment of the former, and together, existed in an inter-dependent mutually
inclusive relationship. By the First World War, Methodism’s moral practices and
social reform agenda came to define its brand of holiness. Temperance and
transgressions of the Sabbath came to define increasingly what Methodism stood
against, rather than what it stood for. Many in society, in the aftermath of the First
World War, preferred the pursuit of increased personal freedoms, Sunday picnics,
use of the motor car, leisure and organised sport in the face of a perceived relatively
inflexible and restrictive Methodist lifestyle. Revivalist meetings lost their appeal to
other more attractive pursuits.
Methodist temperance reformers were utterly convinced that intemperance was a
destructive force in society, and therefore warranted concerted reform action.
Within the evangelical community, it was widely believed that intemperance was the
cause of poverty. Methodists were increasingly persuaded to adopt temperance
principles, which came to mean teetotalism by the 1880s. The introduction of six
o’clock hotel closing in the First World War was the high-water mark for temperance
reform.
Sabbatarianism was another measure which attracted the attention of Methodist
reformers. The majority of chapel and churchgoers believed it was important to
honour the Sabbath and to avoid God’s judgement on the nation in the event of
widespread Sabbath desecration. Wesleyans in particular, and Methodists in general
after 1900, were strict and thorough in their denunciation of Sabbath indiscretions,
and as for temperance, utilised one or more of the mid-Victorian four arenas of
advocacy, in pulpit, press, platform, and parliament.14
Invariably, the traditional policy of denunciation, whilst it possessed limited
appeal to many Methodists, failed to arrest the indifference of wider society. In the
1820s, the Scottish evangelical, Thomas Chalmers, had eulogised in a sermon
entitled, ‘The Expulsive Power of a New Affection’, the merit of appealing to the
greater and positive attributes of the gospel, rather than worldly affections, and that
14
Timothy Larsen, Friends of Religious Equality: Nonconformist Politics in Mid-Victorian England,
(Bletchley, Milton Keyes: Paternoster Press, 1999), 31.
312
the force of moral denunciation alone would not displace misplaced affections. They
were overcome by the ‘affection of the Gospel’.15
The point here, when applied to moral reform, is that (it can be argued), by the
1920s, attempts to create better citizens through proclaiming injunctions of iniquity
avoidance and moral self-denial, had failed to arrest the public conscience from an
increased commitment to individual moral autonomy and democratic individualism.
The moral reform tradition, which, in part, helped to define Methodist holiness,
became identified with the pronouncements of a middle-class respectable church
intent on imposing their restrictive proprieties, typified by total abstinence and
Sabbatarianism, on wider society.
Overall, Methodist revivalism established itself in South Australia soon after
colonial settlement began in 1836. Within the broad bounds of the separation of
church and state, and the voluntary principle, revivalism enabled Methodism to
differentiate itself from what it considered were nominal expressions of Christian
identity. However, once the notion of popular indifference to organised religion
gained momentum in the early twentieth century, revivalism faltered as a marker of
differentiation within a common Christianity and relatively homogeneous
evangelical piety.
This study has argued that in South Australian Methodism from 1838 to 1939,
the quest for ‘vital religion’ began following a ‘religion of the heart’ experience of
conversion, engendered primarily by revivalist means. After conversion, the pursuit
of holiness came to be associated with such practices as temperance and Sunday
observance. The study has also shown that revivalism was far more extensive than
previously thought, and provided Methodism with the converting power necessary to
achieve significant membership and self-described growth within South Australia. It
was an effective methodology in the quest for ‘vital religion’. Once revivalism
faltered, as it did in the inter-war period, the number of converts declined
accordingly, and the supply line became restricted in the absence of other
conversionary methods. Conversion was the gateway to ‘vital religion’. One could be
a Methodist without conversion, but one could not be a ‘vital religionist’ without a
15
Thomas Chalmers, The Expulsive Power of a New Affection, (Edinburgh: Thomas Constable, 1855).
313
‘religion of the heart’ conversion.
It is well to conclude this study with two separate perspectives, one on revivalism
and the other on individual faith. The first, by Kenneth Scott Latourette, is an
assessment of the contribution of revivalism in the expansion of world-wide
Christianity in the nineteenth-century:
Nothing to equal [the nineteenth-century expansion of Christianity] had been
seen in the history of the faith. Nothing remotely approaching it could be
recorded of any other religion at any time in the human scene…the
nineteenth-century expansion of Christianity would not have occurred had
the faith not displayed striking inward vitality. That vitality expressed itself
in part through…revivals…[These revivals] were particularly marked in
Protestantism. Indeed, in some respects the nineteenth century was preeminently the Protestant century.16
The comment is also relevant for South Australian Protestantism in the nineteenth
century and for Methodist revivalism in particular up until the First World War.
Flourishing revivalism was the most significant factor in the expansion of Methodist
‘vital religion’. It was a matter of strategy, and when that strategy faltered, as it did in
the inter-war period, there developed no commensurate alternative.
The second perspective, by the Rev. Hugh Gilmore of the Wellington Square
Primitive Methodist Church, North Adelaide, enunciates both the strength, and yet
fluidity, of a conversion-based ‘religion of the heart’. His recollections were given in
a sermon published shortly after his unexpected death in 1891:
I may, however, say that after many oscillations and weary wanderings I
find myself back nearly at the old starting place, though I see matters in a
somewhat different light from what I did when I commenced my journey. I
have not reached finality; but my judgment and heart are satisfied that God
is my portion, and that through the merits of His Son Jesus Christ my Lord I
find acceptance and forgiveness.17
Gilmore’s ‘religion of the heart’, speaks for the many who also encountered ‘vital
religion’ as understood by South Australian Methodists.
16
Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of the Expansion of Christianity, vol. 6, The Great Century in
Northern Africa and Asia, 1800-1914, (New York: Harper & Row, 1944), 442, 448.
17
Hugh Gilmore, ‘Sermon: Spiritual Revealings’, South Australian Primitive Methodist, April 1893,
350.
314
Appendix 1
Chronology of Revival Events – South Australia – 1838-1939
Revivals are listed according to the six levels of meaning (‘Category’) as identified by Steve Latham. His terminology is used and the wording amended where appropriate. See Steve
Latham, “‘God came from Teman’: Revival and Contemporary Revivalism”, in Andrew Walker and Kristin Aune (eds.), On Revival: A Critical Examination (Carlisle: Cumbria,
Paternoster), 2001, 172.
R1:
R2:
R3:
R4:
R5:
R6:
A spiritual quickening of the individual believer.
A deliberate meeting or campaign to deepen the faith of believers and bring non-believers to faith.
An unplanned period of spiritual enlivening in a local church, quickening believers and bringing unbelievers to faith.
A regional experience of spiritual quickening and widespread conversions.
Societal or cultural ‘awakenings’, e.g. the transatlantic First and Second Awakenings.
The possible reversal of secularisation and ‘revival’ of Christianity as such.
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Reference
Wesleyan
Revival
R2 or R3
June 1838
Adelaide
Unknown
First Wesleyan
Love feast held
on 3 June 1838.
‘This Love feast was soon
followed by a glorious
revival in the Circuit’.
1
Wesleyan
Revival
R2
1840-41
Adelaide
A few weeks
Special means
Membership increased by
109
‘A Sunday School was
established, and many young
persons, as well as older
grown, were added to the
Church’.
Missionary Society formed.
The revival occurred under the
leadership of the Wesleyan
minister, the Rev. John
Eggleston, who was known as
an energetic soul-saving
preacher. It was deemed ‘South
Australia’s first great revival’.
315
2
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Wesleyan
Revival
R2 or R3
1851
Kapunda
Unknown
Unknown
40 new members
Wesleyan
Revival
R2 or R3
1851
Willunga
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Bible Christian
Revival
R2 or R3
1853
Burra
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown – It was referred
to later as a ‘great revival’.
Wesleyan
Signs of revival
R2 or R3
1853-54
North Adelaide,
Adelaide South Circuit
Unknown
Unknown
Eighty reported ‘on trial’
Wesleyan
‘A great revival’
R2 or R3
Second
Quarter 1854
Pirie Street,
Adelaide South Circuit
Unknown
Unknown
‘Eighty on trial this
quarter’
Bible Christian
‘Continuous revival’
R2 or R3
1853-60
Gawler Plains
Isolated
revivals over
seven years.
Membership increased
from four to over 319.
Wesleyan
Revival
R2
1855
Norwood
In excess of
two weeks
‘Insatiable
passion for
souls’ of Samuel
Keen.
Special services
316
‘At least sixty were added
to the Lord’.
Other Effects
Reference
3
James Allen converted.
Candidated for Wesleyan
ministry in 1861.
The Revs. James Rowe and
John Ridclift were at the Burra
at this time. Rowe was
considered a powerful
preacher, under whose ministry
many conversions took place,
while for Ridclift, ‘wherever he
went, revivals followed’.
Twelve new chapels under
construction or planned.
Construction of new galleries
for Pirie Street Church begun.
Several ‘gracious outpourings
of the Holy Spirit’ reported.
‘The brethren Williams [the
Rev. Thomas Williams] and
Dare [the Rev. Joseph Dare]
are doing well in the South
Circuit. There has been a great
stir amongst them. Numbers
have been awakened’.
‘The circuit is in a very healthy
and prosperous state’.
Fifteen congregations
established and twelve chapels
built.
4
Mr. John Langsford’s (local
preacher) class re-formed into
three classes.
9
5
6
7
8
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Reference
Bible Christian
Revival
R2 or R3
1855
Bowden
Some weeks
Unknown
‘Some of the fruits of that
revival are still living’.
10
Wesleyan
‘Great Awakening’
R2
1857
Norwood
Unknown
Special services
‘For weeks in succession
men and women, lads and
girls wept and prayed their
way to the Saviour’.
Unknown
‘O God, how good Thou hast
been to souls here in arousing
and pardoning’.
11
Bible Christian
‘Gracious influence to
the awakening of many’.
‘Gracious Work’
R2
1858
Mitcham
Unknown
‘Special means’
‘Awakening of many’
12
R2
1858
Adelaide
Unknown
‘Special means’
13
Primitive
Methodists
Revival
R2
1859
Small township three
miles from Salisbury.
Unknown
Revival services
Bible Christian
Primitive Methodist
Wesleyan
Revival. ‘A most
glorious Revival of
religion: there was never
such as one in this
colony before’.
R2 and
elements
of R3
1859
Burra
Four months
Spontaneous
‘special means’
25-30 ‘were seeking
pardon ’. North Adelaide
congregation has ‘rapidly
improved’ and become
‘quite large’.
‘Nearly the whole of the
people within a circle of
two or three miles’.
500-640
Wesleyan
Revival
R2 or R3
Aug-Sep
1859
Adelaide
Few weeks
Unknown
‘Not less than 300 have
cast in their lot with us’.
Yankalilla
Unknown
Unknown
Seventy members were
added.
‘Many were made the
recipients of Divine grace’.
Unknown.
Wesleyan
Wesleyan
Revival
R2 or R3
1859
Callington
Unknown
Unknown
Wesleyan
Revival
R2 or R3
June-July
Kapunda
‘Nightly
Unknown
317
One convert later became a
Primitive Methodist minister.
14
‘Down in the mines men were
over-powered by the Holy
Ghost, and they came up out of
the mine happy converted
men’. Decrease in hotel
patronage.
‘In almost every circuit in the
District there is a gracious
revival of God’s work’.
15
The Rev. H.T. Burgess, who
began his probation in the
Circuit at the age of twenty,
was ‘the honoured instrument
in a great revival’. Two
churches were built.
Converts became church
members.
‘A great revival has taken
16
17
18
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
1860
Duration
Initiating
Action
services have
been held for
some time past’
Souls Saved
Other Effects
‘During the
superintendency of the
Rev. William Brown in
1857 or 1858 a very
gracious revival was
experienced, and a large
number joined the Church’.
200. The Wesleyans
reported a ‘great revival’ in
nearby Mintaro in 1860.
place’. The Rev. H.T. Burgess
was appointed to Kapunda, on
probation, in 1860. ‘The year
was one of great blessing,
probably the greatest revival
Kapunda has ever
experienced’.
The revival spread to Auburn
the next day. New chapel built
at Auburn in 1860. Auburn
membership increased from 21
to 117.
‘A religious revival is going on
amongst the Wesleyans in this
locality. Prayer meetings have
been held every night lately,
characterized by the usual
earnestness of this
denomination’.
‘Revivals…have taken place
on so extensive a scale in
Auburn, Watervale,
Leasingham, and, in a minor
degree, at Undalya’. ‘The
whole district was aroused, and
while the movement was at its
height, business was well-nigh
suspended, day schools were
closed’.
Reference
Bible Christian
Revival
R2 or R3
1 July 1860
2 July 1860
Watervale,
Auburn
Few weeks
Unknown
Wesleyan
Revival
R2 or R3
July – Aug
1860
Angaston
Few weeks
Unknown
‘Numerous conversions’
Bible Christian
Revival
R2 or R3
In period
July-Sep
1860
Leasingham
Few weeks
Unknown
‘Hundreds of men, women,
and children were brought
into the kingdom of God’.
Bible Christian
Revival
R2 or R3
In period July
– Sep 1860
Undalya
Unknown
Unknown. Probably less
than 10 as membership was
only 15 in October 1859.
22
Wesleyan
Outpouring of the Holy
Spirit
R2 or R3
Prior to Sep
1860
Yankalilla
Probably very
short as it was a
revival of
‘minor degree’.
Unknown –
probably of
short duration
Unknown
44 ‘have professed to find
peace with God’
23
318
19
20
21
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Reference
Wesleyan
Revival
R2 or R3
1862
Burra
Unknown
Unknown
‘Over fifty married couples
were converted’
24
Primitive Methodist
Growth of Circuit
1862
Salsibury
Two years
‘Many souls were
converted’
Primitive Methodist
Wesleyan
Bible Christian
Wesleyan
Revival
R2 or R3
1862
Moonta
Unknown
‘Missionary
spirit’ of the
Rev. Thomas
Braithwaite’
Unknown
Revival
R2
1862-1865
(Ministry of
the Rev. John
Watsford)
Pirie Street Church,
Adelaide First Circuit
Special means
associated with
Watsford’s
leadership
Wesleyan
‘Outpouring of His
Spirit’
R2
First Quarter
1862
Norwood, Adelaide
Third Circuit
Periods of
intense activity
associated with
Watsford’s
ministry
One week
initially.
Extended.
‘Open-air services were
conducted in Paxton Square
and other places’.
Active lay participation in
circuit growth and
enlargement. Second preacher
requested.
There was ‘a leap in church
membership across the three
branches of Methodism’.
Pirie Street (accommodate
1,300) was ‘crowded Sunday
after Sunday’. Moved to
nightly meetings.
Special services
At the end of the first week
it was reported that twenty
six persons ‘received
Christ’.
Primitive Methodist
Revival
R2 or R3
1863
Wallaroo
Unknown
Unknown
Church membership
increased from 53 to 130.
Wesleyan
Revival
R2 or R3
June 1864
Adelaide Third Circuit
One month
Unknown
Wesleyan
‘This cicuit has been
favoured with cheering
proofs of the presence
and blessing of God’
Revival
1864
Adelaide Second
Circuit
Unknown
Unknown
1864?
Watergate
Unknown
Unknown
‘At least forty souls have
been converted to Christ’.
Increase of 44 members
with a further 72 on
profession of faith admitted
on trial.
Unknown
Primitive Methodist
R2 or R3
319
‘Some remarkable
conversions took place’.
‘A gracious revival’
Unknown.
‘For six months Pirie Street
lived in an atmosphere of
revivalism’.
At the Quarterly Meeting for
the First Quarter it was
reported that there were eighty
one persons on trial for
membership. At the September
meeting there were sixty five
on trial.
Wallaroo Mission able to
support its preacher. Hope to
support two ministers in a
year’s time
25
26
27
28
29
30
Jacob Dennison Neate (approx.
14 y.o.) was converted. Died of
typhoid sometime after his
conversion.
31
Denomination
Event Description
Wesleyan
‘There has been for some
time, a deepening feeling
of earnestness and
inquiry’.
Primitive
Methodist.
Wesleyan
‘A real Apostolical,
Methodistical revival’
Wesleyan
First Evangelistic Visit –
The Rev. W. ‘California’
Taylor
Bible Christian
Revival
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Reference
1865
Sandergrove and
Nairne – Mount
Barker Circuit
One to two
months?
Unknown
‘Special services were
conducted every evening for
the next fortnight’.
32
R2 or R3
1865
Callington
Six weeks
The Rev. J.
Watsford
(Chairman of
the District)
preached at the
anniversary
service, during
which ‘the
overwhelming
power of saving
grace came
down upon the
congregation’.
‘Several individuals were
led to seek and find the
Saviour’. ‘Anxious
enquirers after salvation’.
Circuit membership
increased during the
quarter by 18 with eight on
trial.
‘Nearly one hundred souls
have been made the
partakers of divine grace’.
Mid-day prayer meeting held
on the Monday following the
anniversary Sunday – ‘to
which nearly the whole
township responded’. Watsford
stays a further two days. Midday prayer meetings, evening
services, and cottage prayer
meetings held daily for six
weeks
33
R2
1865
Adelaide and Country
areas
July-December
1865
Only a few visits by Taylor
were reported on.
Taylor preaches to 5,000 at
opening services of Kent
Town Wesleyan Jubilee
Church. 50 conversions in
the week following.
Hundreds ‘refreshed’ in
Mintaro Circuit. Annual
District return in November
1865 – increase of 353
members, with 724 ‘on
trial’.
Special services held in
Mintaro circuit after Taylor
departed – 50 conversions
reported.
34
R2 or R3
1865
Happy Valley
Unknown
320
Unknown
Unknown
One of Taylor’s converts
during his visit to Victoria in
1863 was Joseph Nicholson.
He became a Methodist
Minister on probation in 1868,
was transferred to South
Australia in 1872 and was
elected President of the South
Australian Conference in 1891.
Unknown
35
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Reference
Primitive Methodist
Revival
R2 or R3
1865
Mount Barker. Local
revivals occurred in
Downings, Mount
Barker Springs,
Nairne, and Dawsely.
Unknown
Unknown
‘Near 100 professed to
have found peace with
God’.
36
Primitive Methodist
Revival
R2
1866
Beverly
Unknown
Unknown
Seven added to the society
Wesleyan
Revival
R2 or R3
1866
Gawler
Number of
weeks
‘Eighty souls have found
peace with God’. Sixty-five
‘on trial’ for membership.
Wesleyan
Revival
R2
1867
Adelaide First,
Second, and Third
Circuits
2-3 months
Conversion of
one man and
death of his
wife.
Camp Meeting –
Good Friday
1867.
Conducted by
the Rev. John
Watsford.
Several Sunday school scholars
converted. ‘Old members have
been quickened, prejudices
destroyed, grievances
redressed, disputes settled, and
the number of members in
some other branches of the
church considerably increased’.
New chapel to be erected.
Revival services undertaken at
North Adelaide (same circuit).
‘Several added to the society’.
Six adults baptized
39
Wesleyan
Revival
R2
1867
Goolwa Circuit
3 months
Special services
Wesleyan
‘Showers of blessings’
R2 or R3
1867
Kooringa Circuit
‘This past year’
Unknown
140 converts.
December Quarterly
Meeting reported increase
of 22 members with 95 ‘on
trial’.
‘Many have become
accredited members of the
Church’. 69 ‘on trial’.
Special services continued to
be held. On 20 April 1867, Mr.
John Langsford (local preacher,
Norwood – Adelaide Third
Circuit), reported, ‘The Spirit
has been poured out; the
Church has been quickened;
several have found peace
through believing; great grace
has rested upon the people’. At
the next Quarterly Meeting
eighty were ‘reported as on
trial for membership’.
Quarterly finances doubled in
one year.
321
230 converts with 173 ‘on
trial’ reported in the three
circuits.
37
38
40
41
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Bible Christian
‘Times of refreshing’
R2
1867
Kooringa Circuit
3 months
Special services
Primitive Methodist
Revival
R2
1867
Kooringa Circuit
Unknown
Revival services
Forty or fifty ‘beside a
number of the Sunday
School children’.
‘Fifty-five converted to
God’
Primitive Methodist
R2 or R3
1867
Strathalbyn Circuit
Unknown
Unknown
‘Thirty souls have been
brought to God’
Wesleyan
‘On this place the Lord
has graciously poured
out his Spirit’.
Revival
R2
1867
Mount Barker Circuit
Six weeks
Special means
220 converts
Bible Christian
Special services
R2
1867
Chain of Ponds and
Cudlee Creek
Unknown
Special means
38 converts
Bible Christian
Special services
R2
July 1867
Gawler Circuit
Up to four
weeks
Special services
Primitive Methodist
‘Great Awakening’
R2
1868
Strathalbyn Circuit
Unknown
Unknown
84 converts of whom 22
‘joined the church’. A
further 72 added to the
church.
19 converts
Primitive Methodist
Revival (‘One of the
most glorious revivals
we have witnessed in the
colony’.)
‘The Spirit of the Lord
has been graciously
poured on our churches’.
R2 or R3
1868
Wallaroo Circuit
Unknown
Unknown
150 converts
Elements
of R3
followed
by R2
1868
Mount Gambier
Circuit
Unknown
‘Many were alarmed and
led to cry out, ‘What shall I
do to be saved’?
‘Showers of blessings’
and ‘holy fire’
experienced.
Elements
of R3
followed
1868
Willunga Circuit
Unknown
‘Showers of
blessing’
followed by
Special
Services.
‘Tokens of the
Holy Spirit’s
working’
Primitive Methodist
Wesleyan
322
32 converts
Other Effects
Reference
42
Conversion and baptism of a
Chinese couple had a profound
effect on the Kooringa
congregation.
43
44
Simultaneous nature of the
‘Holy Spirit’s operations’.
‘Very gracious work’ reported
at Bowden, Findon, Fullarton,
Auburn, and Gawler. No
details supplied.
45
46
47
‘Great Awakening’ at
Woodchester. Souls saved at
Strathalbyn. Temperance
Society commenced.
Moonta chapel ‘filled every
Sabbath evening’. ‘Large
increase of members’. Finances
in satisfactory state.
48
49
50
Band of Hope formed at
Bethany. 43 members, with 34
signing the pledge.
51
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
by R2
Initiating
Action
Bible Christian
Revival
R2
August 1868
Clarendon Mission
Three weeks
followed by
Special services.
Special services
Bible Christian
Special services
R2
1869
Gawler Circuit - Zoar
Unknown
Special services
Primitive Methodist
Revival
R2
1869
Kooringa Circuit
Four weeks
Primitive Methodist
‘The Lord has graciously
poured out his Spirit’.
Revival
R2 or R3
1869
Wallaroo
Few months
Special revival
services
Unknown
R2 or R3
1869
Wallaroo
Unknown
Redemptorist
Mission (Roman
Catholic) – Father
Hinterocker
Mission
R2
1867-1869
Various parts of the
colony
Three years
Diocesan action
Wesleyan
Second Evangelistic
Visit – the Rev W.
‘California’ Taylor
R2
April – June
1870
Adelaide and various
parts of the colony
Three months
Invitation
Wesleyan
Revival
16 May 1870
– July 1870
Clare Circuit
Three months
Primitive Methodist
Revival
R2 and
Elements
of R3
R3
April – May
1872
Kooringa Circuit
Two months
Visit of the Rev.
W. ‘California’
Taylor
Ordinary means
Primitive Methodist
Revival
R2 or R3
End 1872
Mount Barker Circuit
Unknown
Unknown
Wesleyan
323
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Reference
82 converts. 60 joined the
Bible Christian church.
Remaining united with
other churches.
‘25 have been added to the
church’
60 converts
Chapel at McLaren Flat
instrumental in ‘the conversion
of almost the whole
neighbourhood’.
52
‘150 souls gathered into the
fold of Christ’
284 added to the
membership
Evangelistic conversions.
Incorporating nominal
Catholics into churches.
Conversion of Protestants
(300 claimed).
Twenty reported for Clare.
(1)
‘Many have been converted
to God by your preaching’.
Limited reporting
undertaken. (2). One
hundred reported on trial at
the June Quarterly Meeting
of the Norwood Circuit.
‘Addition of over 280
members’.
‘Forty, young and old,
have, up to this time, been
converted to God’.
‘Twenty have professed
conversion’. In addition,
53
Wesleyans and Bible
Christians helped.
54
55
Sum of £800 raised for
chapels.
Conversions from Catholicism
are not widely reported, but
some conversions reported by
Wesleyan Lady Evangelists in
1895, suggests they did occur.
56
57
58
59
60
61
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Wesleyan
Revival
R2
1872
Yankalilla Circuit
Unknown
‘It began with
the quickened
life of the little
band at
Normanville’
Primitive Methodist
Revivals
R2 or R3
Third Quarter
1873
Mount Barker Circuit
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Wesleyan
‘Showers of blessings’.
R2 or R3
Late 1873Jan 1874
Upper Sturt
(Clarendon Parish)
Three months
Unknown
Bible Christian
Revival
R3
1874
New Jerusalem (1 mile
from Kadina)
Few weeks
Bible Christian
‘A gracious work of
God’
R2
1874
Bowden
Three weeks
Conversion of
‘one of the most
reckless men in
the village’.
‘Special Prayer’
‘Numerous conversions’.
Membership increased
from eight to thirty.
30 with 25 admitted ‘on
trial’.
Wesleyan
‘A quickening of the
societies and the
conversion of sinners’.
R2
1874
Mount Gambier
Six weeks
Primitive Mehodists
Revival
R2
1874
Kooringa
Seven weeks
324
Death of
prominent
layman. Circuit
preachers and
office-bearers
holiness
meeting.
Two week
prayer meeting
Souls Saved
20-30 new members
‘The membership reached
278, with 13 on trial’.
Other Effects
Reference
‘The people came from 10 or
more miles to the services, and
there were wondrous scenes.
When the base of operations
was removed to Finniss Vale
like blessed results appeared.
“Showers of blessing” fell
upon all parts of the Circuit’.
This occurred during the
ministry of the Rev. C.T.
Newman.
‘The income was considerably
in advance of last quarter, and
the report of members showed
a good increase’.
Chapel building no longer
holds the congregation
62
63
64
65
50-70 conversions
66
50 seekers of salvation. 20
seekers for holiness.
67
70 converts
Wesleyans and Bible
Christians were engaged in
simultaneous revivalist
activity.
68
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Reference
Primitive
Methodists
Revival
R2 or R3
1874
Two Wells Circuit
Four-five
months
Unknown
150 ‘have declared that
God for Christ’s sake has
pardoned their sins’.
The ‘grand revival’ occurred
during the term of the Rev. J.
Stuart Wayland.
Sixteen names were added to
the local preacher’s list.
69
Primitive
Methodists
Revival
R2
1874
Kapunda Station
Six weeks
Special services
26-30 ‘souls saved’
70
Primitive Methodist
‘Glorious outpourings of
the Holy Ghost’
R2 or R3
1874
Gawler Circuit
Past quarter
Unknown
80 conversions
71
Wesleyan
Bible Christian
Primitive Methodist
Baptist
Revival
R4
September
1874September
1875
Moonta-Wallaroo
Twelve months
Estimated at up to 1,500
conversions
72
Wesleyan
‘Special services’
R2
June-July
1875
Kapunda
Four weeks
Initial signs
were evidenced
in the Baptist
church in late
1874.
Special services
Wesleyan
Bible Christian
Primitive Methodist
Special united services
R2
June-July
1875
Kooringa
Six weeks
20 conversions
Evangelical
Churches
‘The Gospel Mission’
R2
Adelaide
Four weeks
Wesleyan
Gospel mission in song
R2
Adelaide and country
Three weeks
Wesleyan
Methodists
Unknown
76
Primitive Methodist
Revival
R2
August –
September
1875
August –
September
1875
Third Quarter
of 1875
Initiated by the
three respective
Methodist
ministers
Evangelical
Alliance
Two Wells Circuit
Unknown
Special prayer
meetings
30 conversions
77
Wesleyan
‘Gracious outpouring of
the Holy Spirit’
R2
May-June
1876
Kent Town and
Norwood Circuit
Three weeks
Death of a
young woman
30-40 converts
325
20-30 conversions (mainly
young people)
Some salvations reported
Mr. James (‘Jimmy’) Jeffrey –
popular Wesleyan local
preacher from Moonta Mines
assisted.
Many ‘members of the
different churches have been
greatly quickened.
73
‘Spiritual life of the churches
has been greatly quickened’.
75
Increased church attendances
74
78
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Reference
Wesleyan
Bible Christian
Revival
R2
AprilOctober 1876
Auburn
Seven months
Special services
The Rev. T. Hillman (Bible
Christian – Auburn Circuit)
reported that, ‘there has not
been such a work in this circuit
since the memorable revival of
1860’.
79
Primitive Methodist
Revival
R4 (from
1875)
April-June
1876
Wallaroo
Three months
‘On the whole the station is in
a healthy condition’
80
Wesleyan
‘Marks of revival’
R3
June 1877
Port Adelaide
Two weeks
60 converts
People ‘visibly affected’ by
remarks of the Rev. J. Haslam.
Cries for mercy heard.
81
Wesleyan
Revival
R2
Willunga Circuit
Four months
Wesleyan
Revival
R2
JuneSeptember
1877
June-August
1877
Continuation of
Moonta R4
revival
Regular service
– ‘signs of
contrition’
Special services
136 plus 70 candidates for
membership. Bible
Christians (Auburn Circuit)
report 104 plus a ‘few’
conversions. They admit
115 members and 20 on
trial in 1876. Wesleyans,
therefore, had 61 converts.
‘The number of members
has increased’
Pirie Street Circuit
Two months
Special services
80 plus converts.
September Quarterly
Meeting recorded 92 on
trial and 61 catechumens.
Wesleyan
‘The promise of a
shower’
R2
July-August
1877
Mount Barker Circuit
‘Past few
weeks’
Unknown
Primitive
Methodists
‘Salvation of souls’
Unknown
Mount Barker Circuit
Two quarters
Unknown
Primitive
Methodists
Revival
R2
Kooringa
Ten weeks
Special services
Bible Christian
‘Some good done in the
last quarter’
R2
JulyDecember
1877
JulySeptember
1877
Third Quarter
1876
Some loss of members due
to removal. Twenty seven
on trial.
‘A great many have sought
and found the Saviour’
Auburn Circuit
Unknown
Unknown
326
130 converts. Eighty added
to membership. 24 on trial.
‘A blessed in-gathering of
precious souls to the fold of
Christ’
‘Seventy young people
have professed faith in
Christ at Watervale’.
‘Fourteen converts at
Wakefield’.
82
‘Large numbers of members
who have joined the various
classes, increased
congregations, and general
quickening of the church’.
83
84
85
Larger congregation and
Sabbath school. ‘Church has
been quickened’.
86
87
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Reference
Increased attendances at
worship and class meetings.
88
‘Few at Auburn’.
‘Twenty at Skilly Creek’.
Wesleyan
Revival
R2
July-August
1877
Goolwa Circuit
Four weeks
Special services
Fifty-seven converts
Wesleyan
‘Showers of blessing’
R2
July-August
1877
Gawler Circuit
‘Last few
weeks’
Special services
61 converts (including 50
from the Sunday school)
89
Bible Christian
Revival
R2
Last Quarter
1877
Gawler Circuit
Four weeks
Special services
90
Bible Christian
Revival
R2
Last Quarter
1877
Mount Torrens Circuit
Unknown
Unknown
Wesleyan
Revival
R2
Third Quarter
1877
Clare Circuit
Unknown
Unknown
Primitive Methodist
‘Church quickened’
Third Quarter
1877
Saddleworth Circuit
Bible Christian
‘Times of blessing to
many’
R2
Third Quarter
1877
Clarendon Circuit
Unknown
Unknown
Forty converts plus ‘nearly
all the children in the
Sabbath school from ten
years old and upwards’
‘Conversion of a
considerable number of
persons’
Fifty-two members ‘on
trial’. Membership
increased by 39.
Steady increase in
congregation. ‘The church
has been quickened and
sinners saved’.
‘Several hopeful
conversions were realised’
Bible Christian
Revival
R2
Third Quarter
1877
Mount Lofty Circuit –
the Rev. R. Lang
Four weeks
Special services
Bible Christian
‘Outpouring of the Holy
Spirit’
R2
June-July
1877
Port Wakefield Circuit
Three-four
weeks
Exhortation and
Prayer meetings.
Special services.
Special prayer
327
Fifty persons added to the
church.
‘Strong men cried like
children to see the bright
faces and to hear the
prayers and the clear
testimony of the young
converts’.
Up to ten converts
91
Popular preacher the Rev. D.
O’Donnell arrived from
Victoria in October 1876
Additional seating provided.
92
Two new classes were formed
94
‘The Spirit came upon us with
great power – first at Stirling,
and then at Forest Road, then at
Tregarthen (Summertown), and
Mount Lofty’.
95
93
96
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Reference
Bible Christian
Revival
R2 or R3
1877
Mount Torrens Circuit
All year –
steady work.
Unknown
‘We are most encouraged
on account of the souls
won to Jesus’
97
Primitive Methodist
‘The power of God came
down…in a most
remarkable manner’
R2
1877
Mount Gambier
Station
Four weeks
At least fifteen or more
NonDenominational
Evangelistic mission –
Henry Varley
R2
May-July
1878
Adelaide, Kapunda,
Naracoorte, Mount
Gambier
Eight weeks
Special means
and visiting
preacher – Mrs.
Harvey
Invitation –
NonDenominational
Committee
‘A revival of true religion does
more to increase the strength of
the Church, and arouse a
careless, impenitent
neighbourhood than anything
else’
Increase of ten members in the
quarter. Successful missionary
meetings held.
99
Wesleyan
Revival
R2 or R3
AugustSeptember
1878
Moonta Circuit
Three weeks
Unknown
‘Large numbers are
declaring themselves as
seekers of salvation’
Bible Christian
Revival
R2
Third Quarter
1878
Gawler Plains Circuit
Unknown
Unknown
Primitive Methodist
Special services
R2
Third Quarter
1878
Gawler Circuit –
Lower Alma
Two weeks
Unknown
80 converts. William Glyn
Adams was converted
during this revival. His
obituary stated that this
revival was ‘one of the
most genuine revivals
witnessed in the
colony…Almost every
family in the neighborhood
was brought under the
power of the Holy Spirit’.
Eight or nine converted
Inter-Denominational meetings
for prayer and Bible study
resulted. ‘Revival of religion
among Christians appeared to
be of a more lasting character’.
Local revivals at Moonta
Mines contributed to the
maintenance of a policy of a
prohibited liquor trade.
Drunkenness is very rare.
‘A few of the young converts
will unite with other Churches,
on account of family
connections, but most of them
will identify themselves with
us’.
Wesleyan
Special services
R2
Fourth
Quarter 1878
Minlaton Circuit
Unknown
Unknown
328
‘Hundreds professed to
have been converted’
Membership increased by
twenty-five. (56 to 81)
98
100
101
102
103
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Primitive Methodist
Revival
R2
Third Quarter
1879
Kooringa Circuit Redruth
Nine weeks
Unknown
‘Fifty souls have been
saved’
104
Primitive Methodist
Revival
R2
Third Quarter
1879
Two Wells Circuit
Past Quarter
Unknown
’35 person have professed
faith in the Lord Jesus’
105
Bible Christian
‘Private personal appeal’
R2
Third Quarter
1879
Balaklava Circuit
A few months
Unknown
106
Wesleyan
Special services
R2
Third Quarter
1879
Clare Circuit
Eight weeks
Unknown
‘Upwards of fifty have
yielded themselves to
Christ’
Seventy persons ‘brought
to decision’
Wesleyan
Special services
R2
Third Quarter
1879
Mount Gambier
Circuit
Unknown
Unknown
Thirty-five ‘on trial’ and
fifteen catechumens
108
Wesleyan
Revival-Temperance
Matthew Burnett
R2
April-June
1880
Pirie Street Circuit
Seven weeks
Invitation – M.
Burnett
109
Wesleyan
Revival-Temperance
Matthew Burnett
R2
June-July
1880
Archer Street – North
Adelaide
Six weeks
Invitation – M.
Burnett
‘118 expressed desire to
unite in membership with
one or other of the
churches in the city’
180 converts. 100 intend to
unite with Archer Street.
Wesleyan
Revival – Temperance
Matthew Burnett
R2
July-August
1880
Brompton
Unknown
Invitation – M.
Burnett
Wesleyan
Special services
R2
Third Quarter
1880
Koolunga Circuit Boucaut
Three weeks
Unknown
Wesleyan
Special evangelistic
services
R2
Kapunda
Three weeks
Unknown
‘Over a hundred persons
received pardon and peace’
Wesleyan
‘Showers of blessing’
and Revival –
Temperance Matthew
Burnett
R2
AugustSeptember
1880
JulySeptember
1880
Kent Town and
Norwood Circuit
Past Quarter
Special Services
– D. O’Donnell
(Circuit
Minister) & visit
– Matthew
‘Scores of persons
quickened and saved’. In
excess of 167 souls saved.
329
Other Effects
Reference
107
Quarterly Meeting of 30
September 1880 reports 429
members – an increase of 26
with 107 ‘on trial’
’88 persons are known to
have found Christ, or
restored from backsliding’
‘Twenty-five souls brought
to Christ’
110
111
112
Ministers of the Primitive,
Bible Christian, and Baptist
churches assisted.
Three new classes formed.
October Quarterly Meeting
reports increase of 15 members
with 126 ‘on trial’.
113
114
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Reference
‘We have decided to extend
our labours eastward, taking
the new Hundred of Wonna on
our next plan’. ‘Enlarged
liberality’.
115
Burnett
Wesleyan
‘Waiting for the shower’.
Special services
R2
Second and
Third
Quarters
1880
Yarcowie Circuit
Past two
Quarters
Unknown
‘Several accessions to the
church’.
‘Thirty members added to
the church’.
Wesleyan
Revival – Temperance
Matthew Burnett
Revival – Temperance
Matthew Burnett
R2
October 1880
Moonta Circuit
Two weeks
R2
October 1880
Port Adelaide Circuit
Two weeks
Invitation – M.
Burnett
Invitation – M.
Burnett
Wesleyan
Revival
R2 or R3
1880
Quorn- began at
Willochra and
‘extended right
through the circuit’
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown. Meetings were
‘well attended’
‘100 seekers of salvation
and 1,000 signed the
pledge’. Reported in
January 1881 that there
were 66 ‘on trial’ – mainly
the result of Burnett’s
work.
‘Fifty persons were
converted to God’
Wesleyan
Revival – Temperance
Matthew Burnett
R2
NovemberDecember
1880
Northern Areas of
South Australia
Four weeks
Invitation – M.
Burnett
Twenty converts reported.
(Probably incomplete).
1,006 sign the pledge.
Wesleyan
Revival – Temperance
Matthew Burnett
R2
Jamestown
Two weeks
Invitation – M.
Burnett
Twenty converts.
272 sign the pledge.
120
Wesleyan
Revival – Temperance
Matthew Burnett
R2
Mount Gambier
Four days
Invitation – M.
Burnett
Some converts.
180 sign the pledge.
121
Wesleyan
Revival – Temperance
Matthew Burnett
R2
26 February
1881 – 12
March 1881
20 March
1881 – 24
March 1881
2-22 April
1881
Caltowie, Terowie,
Yarcowie,
Canowie Station.
Three weeks
Invitation – M.
Burnett
Several conversions.
420 sign the pledge.
Wesleyan
330
116
‘One striking feature of the
work is that other churches in
the neighbourhood and district
have shared as largely in the
gracious result of this work as
ourselves’
117
‘Among whom were fifteen
young men, seven or eight of
whom, are destined to play an
important part as workers in
the Church of Christ’
Locations visited: Crystal
Brook, Red Hill, Port Pirie,
Laura, Melrose, Wilmington,
Port Augusta, Quorn, Beautiful
Valley, Melrose.
118
Band of Hope formed at
Caltowie
119
122
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Reference
Wesleyan
Revival – Temperance
Matthew Burnett
R2
24 April – 18
May 1881
One month
Invitation – M.
Burnett
Thirty plus conversions.
479 sign the pledge
Bands of Hope formed at
Orroroo and Petersburg.
123
Wesleyan
Grand Temperance
Demonstration
R2
19 June 1881
Gladstone, Wirrabara
Forest, Yarrowie,
Orroroo, Petersburg,
Yongala.
Adelaide Town Hall
One evening
Invitation – M.
Burnett
His Excellency the Governor
presided. Matthew Burnett was
one of the speakers.
124
Wesleyan
Revival – Temperance
Matthew Burnett
R2
21 May – 17
June 1881
Port Pirie, Crystal
Brook, Koolunga,
Georgetown, Stone
Hut, Wirrabarra, Port
Germain, Telowie,
Wandearah East,
Melrose, Fullerville,
Willowie, Booleroo.
Three weeks
Invitation – M.
Burnett
2,300 present. Held to
coincide with the triennial
Wesleyan General
Conference
‘Precious souls have in
each place sought and
found the pearl of great
price’.
125
Wesleyan
Revival – Temperance
Matthew Burnett
R2
18 June – 5
July 1881
Amyton, Wilmington,
Port Augusta, Hawker,
Beltana, Government
Gums, Blinman,
Beltana, Quorn,
Melrose, Jamestown
Three weeks
Invitation – M.
Burnett
Mayor and Chief Magistrate of
Port Pirie (W. Wood, Esq.,)
reported how the incidence of
drunkenness had reduced by
fifty per cent since Burnett’s
last visit. As a merchant as
well, the Mayor noted that ‘he
had received payment of
accounts he had never expected
to get’. He attributed these
matters to Burnett’s work.
Bands of Hope formed at
Quorn, Johnsburg, Walloway.
Port Augusta – Temperance
bodies have increased in
membership.
Wesleyan Church is filled
every week for the Band of
Hope meetings.
Wesleyan,
Primitive
Methodist,
Bible Christian
Revival – Temperance
Matthew Burnett
R2
Early July late August
1881
Moonta Mines
Six weeks
Revival already
in progress (two
weeks) when
Burnett arrived
at Moonta
Mines on 17
July 1881 by
Wesleyans reported at their
December Quarterly Meeting
an increase of membership for
the quarter of 100. There were
also 100 ‘on trial’ as well as
107 catechumens.
127
331
28 conversions recorded
plus ‘Several conversions’
in numerous towns.
180 sign the pledge (far
less than the cumulative
totals).
Cumulative Total – 1881
South East Tour: 200 sign
pledge.
Northern Tour: 4,334 sign
pledge.
500 conversions. 2,000
sign pledge.
126
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Reference
‘We intend to nurture the
young converts, and to this end
several new leaders have been
appointed at Mintaro and
Clare, and in other places as
well’. A spirit of unity reported
throughout the circuit. Clare
March Quarterly Meeting
reported increase of thirty
members with 50 ‘on trial’.
The Rev. James Bickford
(Wesleyan minister at
Kooringa) recorded how during
a second visit by Burnett to the
Burra in late November 1881,
‘a great work of God followed.
For miles outside the Burra the
saving power was felt’.
128
‘The congregation had grown,
and was still increasing –
twenty two sittings had been
applied for during the past
fortnight. The membership had
been greatly increased, as the
result of a gracious revival’.
Wednesday evening
130
invitation.
Wesleyan
Revival – Temperance
Matthew Burnett
R2
4 September 7 October
1881
Mintaro and Clare
One week
Mintaro. Four
weeks at Clare.
Invitation – M
Burnett
Mintaro – 88 conversions
(Age distribution: 13 young
men, 14 young women, 12
in middle life, five
advanced in life, 17 from
twelve to sixteen, 27 under
twelve). 150 sign pledge.
Clare – 62 conversions.
450 sign pledge.
Wesleyan, Bible
Christian, Primitive
Methodist
Revival – Special united
evangelistic services
(Early October – late
December 1881)
Temperance – Matthew
Burnett (Two weeks)
R2
9–21 October
1881
(Burnett’s
visit)
Kooringa (one week).
Redruth (one week).
Two weeks for
the Burnett
meetings as
part of the
special united
services.
Burnett reports the results
of his two week visit: 130
conversions. 435 plus all
the male inmates at
Redruth gaol sign the
pledge.
Wesleyan
Revival
R2 or R3
Third Quarter
1881
Draper Memorial
Church
Unknown
Unknown for
the united
services [most
likely there was
agreement from
the three
Methodist
churches
represented by
the Revs. J.
Pearce (BC), M.
Burt (PM), J
Bickford and W.
A. Bainger
(Wesleyan)].
Invitation – M.
Burnett
Unknown
332
Unknown
129
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Wesleyan
Bible Christian
Revival
R2
23 October –
5 November
1881
Clarendon Circuit
(Coromandel Valley
and Clarendon)
Two weeks
Invitation – M.
Burnett
Wesleyan
Bible Christian
Revival
R2
Normanville,
Yankalilla, Finnis
Vale, Harcourt.
One week
Invitation – M.
Burnett
Wesleyan
Revival
R2
6 November
– 11
November
1881
13 November
– 2 December
1881
Archer Street, North
Adelaide
Three weeks
Invitation – M.
Burnett
Fifty-two conversions
Temperance
Temperance
demonstration
Revival
3 December
1881
5 – 22
December
1881
Port Adelaide
One evening
Between 60-70 sign pledge
North Rhine, Redruth,
Kooringa.
Two-three
weeks
Invitation – M.
Burnett
Invitation – M.
Burnett
Wesleyan
Bible Christian
Primitive Methodist
R2
333
‘There cannot be less
(inclusive of children) than
150 who have found the
Saviour through the entire
district’. 373 sign pledge.
Forty nine conversions.
188 sign pledge.
266 conversions. 238
pledges
Other Effects
congregation numbers 120. ‘A
class for young ladies has been
established’. ‘A theological
class had also been formed for
young men’.
Clarendon’s membership
increases by thirty in the first
quarter 1882, with 23 ‘on trial’.
Increase is attributed mainly to
Burnett’s work.
Reference
131
132
‘Many of those who have
profited by Mr. Burnett’s
ministrations are resident in
various parts of the country, so
that out church membership
here will not be materially
augmented’. The December
Quarterly Meeting reported
that membership did however,
increase by thirty in the
quarter.
133
134
Total reported for the two visits
to the Burra region (including
the 9-21 October 1881 visit):
396 conversions and 673
pledges. Burnett reported a
cumulative total to the end of
1881 of over 1,000 conversions
and upwards of 8,000 pledges.
The Wesleyans reported at
their December Quarterly
135
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Meeting 73 (inclusive of two
children’s classes) ‘on trial’.
Total Abstinence Society
formed. Nightly prayer
meetings continue in Wesleyan
Church after Burnett’s
departure.
Reference
Wesleyan
Bible Christian
Congregational
United temperance and
evangelistic meetings
R2
12-27
February
1882
Port Elliot,
Victor Harbor
Two weeks
Invitation – M.
Burnett
Hosted by
Presbyterian,
Congregational and
Wesleyan Ministers
Wesleyan
Primitive Methodist
Presbyterian
Temperance meetings
R2
11-25 March
1882
Penola, Border Town,
Naracoorte
Two weeks
Invitation – M.
Burnett
Some conversions. ‘Many
boys and girls came to
Jesus’ (Wesleyan Church
Sunday school). 270 sign
pledge.
183 sign pledge. ‘Souls
were saved’.
United temperance and
evangelistic meetings
R2
Kingston and Robe
Ten days
Invitation – M.
Burnett
135 pledges for Kingston.
82 pledges for Robe.
No apparent religious support
evident at Robe.
138
Wesleyan
Congregational
United temperance
meetings
R2
Port Elliot,
Victor Harbor, Point
Macleay.
One week
Invitation – M.
Burnett
165 pledges Port Elliot.
400 pledges Victor Harbor.
28 pledges Point Macleay.
Religious and Temperance
meeting held at Point Macleay.
139
Wesleyan
Church of England
United temperance and
evangelistic meetings
R2
25-31 March
1882.
1-3 April
1882 (Robe)
5-10 April
1882 (Port
Elliot and
Victor
Harbor.
11-12 April
(Point
Macleay
Mission
Station)
13-30 April
1882
Two-three
weeks
Invitation – M.
Burnett
Ten conversions.
397 sign pledge.
140
Wesleyan
Bible Christian
Presbyterian
United temperance and
evangelistic meetings
R2
1-19 May
1882
Kingston, Lucindale,
Mount Gambier, Port
MacDonnell
Millicent, Beachport,
Robe, Kingston,
Naracoorte,
Beachport, Meningie,
Point Macleay, Milang
Three weeks
Invitation – M.
Burnett
141
Wesleyan
Bible Christians
United temperance and
evangelistic meetings
R2
21 May-2
June 1882
Willunga,
Aldinga,
Two weeks
Invitation – M.
Burnett
412 sign pledge (exclusive
of ‘all present signed the
pledge’) at Point Macleay.
Burnett recorded a total of
1,442 pledges for his South
East Tour.
185 sign pledge
334
136
137
142
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Disciples of Christ
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Reference
Conversions appear to be
under-reported. At Cherry
Gardens the ‘converting power
of God was displayed’.
However, no conversions were
reported. The September
Quarterly Meeting reported an
annual increase of 78 members,
with 29 ‘on trial’ and 39
catechumens.
During the journey from
Willunga to Adelaide, ‘all
along the line of route we were
cheered by those whose hands
we grasped, perhaps for the last
time, who with tearful eyes
assured us that under God they
and their families were
completely changed since they
signed the pledge’.
‘The revival has been the topic
of the day, for such a
manifestation of the Spirit has
not been known for the last ten
years. Other churches have also
caught the holy fire, and there
is no doubt but that the whole
community is being powerfully
affected’.
‘Additions have been made
continuously to the Churches;
indeed, ever since the
memorable services conducted
by Mr. Burnett, the Burra
District has been in
143
Noarlunga
Wesleyan
Baptist
United temperance and
evangelistic meetings
R2
3 June-3July
1882
Blackwood,
Coromandel Valley,
Reynella, Meadows,
Kangarilla, Cherry
Gardens, Clarendon
Four weeks
Invitation – M.
Burnett
37 converts. There were
people who ‘yielded
themselves to God’. 527
pledges.
Wesleyan
Baptist
Bible Christian
United temperance and
evangelistic meetings
R2
24 July30July 1882
Morphett Vale,
McLaren Vale,
McLaren Flat,
Willunga
One week
Invitation – M.
Burnett
53 conversions.
322 sign pledge.
Wesleyan and other
churches.
Revival
R2 or R3
July-August
1882
Kadina
One to two
months
Address by the
Rev. C. T.
Newman to the
Sunday School
precipitates
conversions and
the conduct of a
‘special course’
Kadina – 50 conversions.
Wintanerta (small country
congregation) – ‘about a
dozen souls have found
mercy.
Wallaroo Mines – several
‘led to Christ’.
Wesleyan
Bible Christian
Primitive Methodist
Revival (continuation of
revival commenced with
Burnett’s visit in
December 1881).
R2
23 July-11
August 1882
Kooringa
One week in
each of
Primitive
Methodist,
Bible Christian,
and Wesleyan
Invitation – M.
Burnett in
December 1881
‘A score of persons…were
brought to Christ’.
335
It was reported in April
1889 that during the three
years the Rev. S. Knight
144
145
146
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
churches by
missioner the
Rev. D.
O’Donnell.
Continuation of
a fifty days’
mission.
Revival still
going in
August 1883.
Six weeks
Wesleyan
Baptist
United temperance and
evangelistic meetings
R2
1 August-15
September
1882
Yorke Peninsula
Wesleyan,
Primitive
Methodists,
Congregational,
United temperance and
evangelistic meetings
R2
16
September-4
October 1882
Wesleyan, Bible
Christian, Primitive
Methodist, Baptist,
Presbyterian
United temperance and
evangelistic meetings
R2
7 October-21
November
1882
Moonta Mines, Port
Wakefield, Balaklava,
Mintaro, Dowlingville,
Ardrossan, Houghton,
Glen Ewin, Houghton,
Morgan.
Kapunda, Hallet,
Yacka, Kooringa,
Redruth, Auburn,
Balaklava, Gawler,
Saddleworth.
Initiating
Action
Other Effects
was at Kooringa, ‘religious
enthusiasm ran high…it
was a time of almost
continuous revival, and
many souls were converted
to God’. These three years
‘can never be forgotten’.
uninterrupted revival’. At the
Kooringa Wesleyan Quarterly
meeting in October 1882, it
was reported by the Rev. S.
Knight that ‘the additions to
the Church in the District were
about 600 souls brought in
during the year’. (Primitive
Methodists report that it was
rather 500 in two years).
Reported at the Yorketown
Wesleyan Quarterly Meeting of
September 1882 that 32 were
‘on trial’. Appreciative
comments were made of
Burnett’s visit.
Three weeks
Invitation – M.
Burnett
‘300 adults and juveniles
yielded their hearts to
God’. Over 1,900 pledges.
88 addresses given (20
temperance, 68
evangelistic). 17 towns
visited.
46 conversions.
450 sign pledge.
Six weeks
Invitation – M.
Burnett
129 conversions.
693 sign pledge.
336
Invitation – M.
Burnett.
Souls Saved
Reference
147
Shearers kept their money after
signing the pledge at a
Temperance meeting held at
the station of the Hon. A. Hay.
148
Formation of a Temperance
Mission and Band of Hope at
Kapunda.
Auburn has additional
meetings until 1 December
after Burnett departs. Kooringa
Wesleyan Quarterly Meeting
held on Tuesday 26 December
1882, reported a nearly threefold increase in membership to
329. Quarterly Meeting in
September 1884, reported that
‘the membership had declined
100 on the year, largely in the
149
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Reference
juvenile classes by removals,
membership 300’.
Wesleyan
United temperance and
evangelistic meetings
R2
Wesleyan
Evangelistic services
R2
Primitive Methodist
Revival
R2
Wesleyan
Revival
R2
Pirie Street, North
Rhine, Angaston,
Truro, Riverton,
Kangaroo Island.
Woodside. (Meetings
held in the Institute
Hall).
Green’s Plains West –
Kadina Circuit.
Three weeks
Invitation – M.
Burnett
Several conversions. 112
sign pledge.
One week
Invitation – Mrs.
Emilia Baeyertz
Unknown –
possibly a few
weeks.
Prayer meetings
– pleading for
revival.
‘Over sixty have given
their names as being able to
trust in Christ’.
‘The number of the elect
has been multiplied’. In
August it was reported that
70 ‘souls were converted’.
Cunliffe – Kadina
Circuit.
Unknown
Unknown
19 July-9
August 1883
Beverley – Adelaide
Second Circuit
Three weeks
Special services
14 August
1883
Reeves’ Plains – Two
Wells Circuit
One week.
Special services
Gospel Temperance
meeting – 5 August 83 – 15
converted. 46 additional
conversions.
August 1883
Lower Light – Two
Wells Circuit
Unknown
Unknown
13 converts. Membership
increased from 8 to 26.
Unknown
Early MayJuly 1883
Draper Memorial
Church, Adelaide
Four-six weeks
Special meetings
‘77 names placed on the
roll of new members’.
Additional ‘seventeen
applicants for church
membership’. Some
26
November-17
December
1882
25 March-1
April 1883
Second
Quarter 1883
337
‘Between 40 and 50 have
given their hearts to God’.
150
Meetings continued in the
Wesleyan church after Mrs.
Baeyertz departed.
‘At Green’s Plains West we
have a thoroughly revived
society’.
140 names added to the
members’ roll in the past two
months.
151
152
Salvation Army commenced
services in Beverley after the
Primitive Methodist revival –
affected
attendances.
‘A glorious change has been
brought about this place, no
class has been held for years
past, but now over 40 can come
for miles to this means of
grace’.
Methods adopted: Outdoor –
singing bands, open-air
preaching, tract distribution.
Indoor – prayer, testimony, and
appeal. Gospel Temperance
153
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
conversions.
Pirie Street Circuit
Quarterly Meeting of 19
September 1883 reported
‘500 members, with 130 on
trial, which gives the
gratifying increase of 35
members and 83 on trial’.
Twenty to thirty
conversions.
meeting held – 150 adopt total
abstinence principles.
11 July 83 – Social Tea held –
‘About 50 persons witnessed
for Jesus in a little more than
an hour’. Three converts.
Concluded with a half-hour
prayer meeting.
Methods adopted: ‘Much street
processioning, lively singing,
short pithy addresses, earnest
praying, and telling
testimonies’. Salvation Army
chaplain and members
participate in a Sunday
afternoon service.
‘Nothing like it has been seen
in our church here for the last
thirty years’. Outdoor and
indoor meetings characterized
by very little noisy excitement
– but with much weeping and
great joy’. ‘Members of the
Baptist and Independent
churches have been revived’.
‘We are witnessing the
continuance of a very genuine
and blessed revival of the work
of God’. ‘A Woman’s Prayer
Union has been started’.
Special services at Montacute
in August result in a further 30
conversions.
Primitive Methodist
Revival
R2
July 1883
Morphett Street
Church, Adelaide
A few weeks
Special means
Primitive Methodist
Revival
R2
July 1883
Norwood Church
Three weeks
Protracted
meetings
Twenty-four ‘profess to
find pardon’
Wesleyan
Revival
R2
June-August
1883
Kent Town and
Norwood Circuit
Four weeks
Special services
Some conversions. ‘As a
result of the last six weeks
services we have about 35
members on trial in the
ordinary classes, and about
50 boys and girls in the
junior classes. A gracious
influence rests on the older
members of the Church’.
By early August – ‘Many
have sought and found the
pearl of great price’.
338
Reference
154
155
156
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Reference
Wesleyan
Special religious
services.
R2
June-July
1883
Semaphore
A few weeks
Special services
Fifty ‘decide for Christ’.
‘Church Visiting Society’
established for Port Adelaide
and Semaphore to preserve the
‘gracious work of God in our
midst’.
157
‘Outpouring of the
Spirit’.
Second
Quarter
Maitland
During the
Quarter
Unknown
‘Thirty-eight souls have
been brought to God’.
‘Enlarged congregations,
numerous additions to the
Church, and increased
liberality’.
‘Gracious revival’ in the
Wallaroo Sunday school.
Second
Quarter
Wallaroo
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
‘A time of ingathering
rather than a time of
revival’.
Second
Quarter
Semaphore
One month
Unknown
Alberton – trebled
membership.
Woodville – double
membership.
After a young converts
testimony meeting, over 70
applied for membership. Port
Adelaide Circuit Quarterly
Meeting of 28 September 1883
reported a ‘membership of 290,
being an increase on the year of
127, and on the quarter of 49’.
Special meetings
June-July
1883
Mount Barker
Three weeks
Special meetings
Twenty converts to join the
church.
Offer of Mr. John Dunn to
build a new church at Mount
Barker was accepted at the
Quarterly Meeting of 25
September 1883.
Special evangelistic
services
July 1883
Gawler River
One week
Special meetings
‘Eight persons publicly
sought the Saviour’.
Twenty to join the Church.
‘At Gawler, each week is
witnessing additional souls
coming to Jesus’. Processions
were held which were
‘disturbed by the larrikins of
the town’.
Special services
July 1883
Ardrossan
Two weeks
‘First fruits of
‘Several have found the
‘The best feature of the work is
339
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
the year…had
come’.
Saviour’.
that the indifference, which a
little while ago seemed
impenetrable, has entirely
disappeared. The morning
congregation has doubled; in
the evening temporary seats
have to be provided. It is the
general belief that these are
only the tokens of a great and
gracious work of revival’.
Hundreds signed the pledge
following her Temperance
address.
Bands of praying women
established. Mr. H. T. Fry,
businessman, and a member of
the North Adelaide
Congregational Church enters
evangelistic work after
attending Mrs. Hampson’s
meetings. Assists Mr. T.
Houston during his South
Australian tour in1884-85.
A special mission was held in
the first week of August at Port
Pirie – Thirty to Forty scholars
‘declaring their desire to love
Christ and be his children’.
Additional adult conversions
after ‘penitents rushed forward
to the communion rail’. ‘Such
a scene has not before been
witnessed in Port Pirie’.
Protestant Churches
Mrs. Hampson – Mission
R2
20-31 July
1883
Adelaide
Twelve days
Mrs. Hampson
invited by an
inter-church
committee.
300 conversions reported in
the Christian Weekly and
Methodist Journal. 500
reported in the South
Australian Register.
Wesleyan
Special services.
Showers of blessing’.
R2
Early August
1883
Port Pirie,
Port Augusta.
Gawler
One-two weeks
Special services
Port Pirie – 15 converts.
Port Augusta – ‘Over 30
have professed
conversion’.
Gawler – Fifty Sunday
school scholars ‘owned
their dying Lord’.
Wesleyan
A ‘gracious work’ of
‘spiritual blessing’.
Early August
1883
Koolunga
A few weeks.
Special services
Yacka – 27 conversions.
Koolunga – Seven have
declared themselves on the
340
‘Expecting still greater things’.
Reference
158
159
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Reference
Lord’s side’.
Wesleyan
‘A very gracious
work…’
August 1883
Gawler Circuit –
Williamstown
Three weeks
Sunday school
conversions
50 persons
‘Showers of blessing’.
Third Quarter
1883
Neighbourhood of the
Lady Alice Mine in
the Gawler Circuit.
Unknown
Mine visited
‘Between 20 and 30 have
professed conversion’
Bible Christian
Revival
R2
Second
Quarter 1883
Moonta Circuit –
Moonta Mines, Cross
Roads, East Moonta,
Moonta Township.
Three months
Quarterly
Meeting in
March/April
1883.
In excess of 110 ‘souls
saved’. 160 join classes in
the circuit.
Wesleyan
Revival
R2
September
1883
Kent Town and
Norwood Circuit –
Magill
Two weeks
Special revival
services
’35 persons have professed
faith in Christ’.
Circuit Quarterly Meeting
of 21 December 1883
reported that ‘the
proportionate solid
advance’ of the recent
revival was encouraging.
341
‘It commenced in the Sunday
school when 17 of the elder
scholars gave themselves to
God. Special meetings have
been held nightly ever since’.
‘Two new classes have been
formed’.
Some cooperative work with
Salvation Army. United
services with the Wesleyans
and Primitive Methodists. The
Wesleyans reported at the
Moonta Circuit Quarterly
Meeting of 26 September 1883,
that there were 707 members
with 82 ‘on trial’, and that ‘no
fewer than 244 members had
been added to the church
within the past three years’.
Kent Town and Norwood
Quarterly Meeting of 20
September 1883 reported a
membership of 661, with 75
‘on trial’, and 115 junior
members. The increase for the
year was 131 members, 48 ‘on
trial’, and 63 junior members.
The promotion of ‘entire
consecration’ was seen as a
means of conserving the results
of revival.
160
161
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Reference
Bible Christian
Revival
R2
Fourth
Quarter 1883
Unknown
Special services
‘At each place the power of
God was present to heal
and souls were saved’.
‘These revivals have helped to
infuse fresh energy and life
into many of the workers’.
162
Wesleyan
Revival
R2
May-June
1884
Adelaide Circuit ‘Special services held
at Eastwood,
Maylands, Glen
Osmond, and
Goodwood’.
Mount Barker Circuit
– Native Valley,
Hartley, Woodside.
Four weeks
Special services
Native Valley – Society
formed with 23 members.
Hartley – 24 conversions.
Woodside – 30 scholars of
Sunday School ‘decide for
Christ’.
163
Baptist (reported in
June 1883).
Bible Christian
Wesleyan
Congregational
Revival
R2
June-July
1884
Bowden and
Brompton
Six weeks (for
Bible Christian
and Wesleyan)
‘Signs of an
awakening’.
Special services
followed.
Baptist – 26 by baptism.
Bible Christian – 70
conversions.
Wesleyan – 42 converts.
Congregational – 50
‘young people deciding for
Christ’, as a result of
Special services held in
August. Twenty five joined
the church with the
remainder joining the
Young Christians’ Union.
Bible Christian
Revival
R2
1 June-end
July 1884
Wirrabara Circuit
Six weeks
Special services
‘Many precious seeking
salvation’.
The Quarterly Meeting of 30
September 1884 reported ‘309
full members, with 64 on trial;
an increase of 101 full
members on the year. For this
we thank God and take
courage’.
Baptist Sunday school in
Hindmarsh increases from 36
to 100. New church building
required. Sixty Wesleyans seek
‘entire sanctification’. The
Wesleyan Brompton Circuit
Quarterly meeting of 30
September 1884 reported 136
members, 94 ‘on trial’, 10
catechumens, and fifteen full
new members. The return
showed that during the six
months of the Circuit’s
existence the number of
persons on the class book had
increased from 112 to 240’.
‘Sunday school started since
the revival with sixty-five
scholars and eleven teachers: a
class meeting, which is well
attended; and a strong
temperance society’. Four local
preachers on trial as a result of
the ‘awakening’.
342
164
165
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Reference
Wesleyan
Revival
R2
July 1884
Aldgate and
Summertown Circuit –
Upper Sturt
Four weeks
Special services
Upper Sturt - ‘Between 30
and 40 saved’.
Ashton – Ten ‘brought to
Christ’.
166
Wesleyan
Revival
R2
July 1884
Ardrossan Circuit
A few weeks
48 conversions
Wesleyan
Revival
R2
4-19 August
1884
Riverton Circuit
Two weeks
‘Outpouring of
the Spirit’
Special prayer
meetings
Wesleyan
Revival
R2
14 August – 3
September
1884
Moonta Circuit
Three weeks
Two weeks of
special prayer
preceded the
revival mission.
Wesleyan
Revival
R2
August 1884
Prospect
Three weeks
Two juvenile classes
established.
170
Wesleyan
‘Gracious outpouring of
the Spirit’
R2
AugustSeptember
1884
Angaston Circuit Towitts
Three weeks
Sunday School
Teachers urge
scholars to
‘decide for
Christ’.
Special services
‘A wave of salvation have
passed over the church’.
‘Many of the members of
our congregation have been
led to Christ’.
About 30 Sunday School
Scholars. Fifteen to twenty
adults.
‘Our attendances have
increased from five to a
crowded church every night.
Believers have been
revived…backsliders have
been restored; sinners, old and
young, are being saved’.
‘In other parts of the circuit the
Spirit is working’.
Of the conversions it was
reported that ‘26 of the elder
scholars and younger teachers’
were from the Sunday school.
The Quarterly meeting of 29
September 1884 reported ‘105
members with 52 on trial,
being an increase of thirteen
full members on the year, and
52 on trial’. The Quarterly
Meeting of 29 December 1884
reported ‘the membership to be
156, with 16 on trial’.
Increased to 166 in March
1885.
Two Society classes and a
ladies’ prayer union have been
formed’.
The Rev. Nelson, the
Independent minister at North
Rhynie assisted.
171
343
52 conversions (some were
re-commitments).
Additional three
conversions at Rhynie.
Twelve ‘found deliverance
through Christ’
167
168
169
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Reference
Wesleyan
Revival
R2
September
1884
Naracoorte
One week
Call to
conversion
Seventeen ‘found peace by
believing’.
172
Wesleyan
Revival
R2
October 1884
Auburn-Hoyleton
Circuit
Unknown
‘Special efforts
in each church’
‘In every pace we have
seen the salvation of souls’.
Leasingham – ‘23 souls
have received the pardon of
sins’.
Wesleyan
Special services
R2
May-June
1885
Hawker Circuit
Three to four
weeks
Special services
‘About forty souls
converted to God’.
July-August
1885
Hawker Circuit Cradock
Two weeks
‘All attending the services have
been blessed – joy and peace
beams from every countenance.
For many years we have
looked and prayed and labored
for this end. Now it has come,
and as a portion of the
Methodist family in South
Australia we can say again, the
best of all, God is with us’.
Auburn – ’28 of the Riverton
brethren and sisters came over
in traps (13 miles) that they
might assist in singing in the
streets and praying for the
unsaved’.
Quarterly Meeting of 24 June
1885 reported ‘that the
membership had increased
during the past quarter from 55
and one on trial to 62 and 27
on trial’.
‘We are earnestly hoping and
praying that this is only the
commencement of a glorious
visitation that shall extend
throughout the circuit’.
‘The church has been
quickened…All through the
Circuit there are signs of
increased spiritual activity, and
a general revival is anxiously
looked for’.
‘Twenty souls have been
converted to god’.
Wesleyan
Prelude to revival
R2
26 July-7
August 1885
Minlaton Circuit
Two weeks
Six conversions
at a Sunday
evening service.
‘Twenty-four persons have
professed to have found
peace’.
Wesleyan
Revival
R2
July-August
1885
Clare Circuit - Clare
Three weeks
Special services
‘About a dozen persons
were led to decide for
Christ’.
Congregational
Revival services
R2
26 July-9
August 1885
Port Elliot
Two-three
weeks
Invitation – T.
Houston and H.
T. Fry
‘The members of the
church have been led to a
fuller consecration of
themselves to the work of
344
173
174
175
176
177
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
the Lord, and very manyboth old and young-have
come to the Saviour’.
‘About fifty persons have
professed conversion’.
Wesleyan
Revival services
R2
9 August-15
August 1885
Goolwa
One week
Invitation – T.
Houston
Wesleyan
Evangelistic services
R2
September
1885
Brompton
Two weeks
Wesleyan
Evangelistic services
R2
27
September-9
October 1885
Pirie Street
Two weeks
Invitation – T.
Houston and H.
T. Fry
Invitation – T.
Houston and H.
T. Fry
Primitive Methodist
Revival services
R2
Third Quarter
1885
Two Wells Circuit
Unknown
Special services
Revival services
R2
Third Quarter
1885
Adelaide Third Circuit
Norwood,
Payneham,
Kensington.
Two weeks at
Payneham
Special services
Norwood – Thirteen
conversions.
Payneham – ‘Several found
the pardon of their sins’.
Kensington – Nine
conversions.
Wesleyan
Evangelistic services
R2
October-13
December
1885
Unley, Kent Town,
Payneham, Adelaide
Town Hall (21
November 1885), Port
Adelaide.
Two months
Invitation – T.
Houston and H.
T. Fry
Limited reporting of
conversions:
Port Adelaide – 40
conversions.
Wesleyan
Special services
R2
AugustDecember
1885
Crystal Brook Circuit
Five months
Special means
68 conversions including
whole families.
345
Twenty conversions
Thirty conversions (final
night). Additional
conversions each evening.
100 enquiries.
‘Several were saved and
added to the church’.
Other Effects
Reference
‘More than thirty signified
their intention of entering the
classes and uniting themselves
with the Church at Goolwa’.
‘The church has been
quickened and further results
are expected’.
600-1,000 attended each night
with 1,800-2,000 on the two
Sunday evenings.
178
‘We confess to a
disappointment at not seeing a
greater number converted’.
181
Large gatherings reported at
each venue. On occasions there
were many who could not gain
admission. At Unley it was
reported: ‘Believers have had
their hearts made glad, and the
whole Church is feeling the
revival glow’.
‘At the recent Quarterly
Meeting an increase of 38
members was reported, with 22
on trial’. Estimated doubling of
182
179
180
183
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Wesleyan
Special services
R2
31 January-5
February
1886
Semaphore
One week
Invitation – T.
Houston and H.
T. Fry
‘Several cases of
conversion have been
recorded’.
Wesleyan
Special services
R2
14-21
February
1886
Mount Barker
One week
Invitation – T.
Houston and H.
T. Fry
‘Over thirty declared their
intention to be on the
Lord’s side’.
Wesleyan
Special services
R2
21-26
February
1886.
Willunga
One week
Invitation – T.
Houston and H.
T. Fry
‘About twenty persons
professed to have yielded
to Christ’.
28 February5 March 1886
Clarendon
One week
Invitation – T.
Houston and H.
T. Fry
Special means
Other Effects
Reference
circuit membership.
25 conversions
Wesleyan
Special services
R2
April 1886
Archer Street – North
Adelaide
Two weeks
Wesleyan
Special services
R2
March-April
1886
Moonta Mines
Two weeks
Invitation T.
Houston and H.
T. Fry
South Australian
Alliance
Gospel Temperance
Mission
R2
3-11 April
1886
YMCA Hall, Adelaide
Eight days
Invitation – Mrs.
Mary C. Leavitt
None reported. Pledges
signed.
Wesleyan
Special services
R2
12-25 April
Gawler
Two weeks
Invitation –T.
None reported. ‘So far as
346
20 conversions (4 adults
and 16 Children of the
Sunday school)
‘100 have professed to find
peace’.
‘The attendances at the evening
meetings were very large, the
aisles and every available space
being occupied, and sometimes
many people having to go
away without being able to
gain admission’.
Mission preceded by a week of
special prayer, and followed up
with a week of additional
evangelistic services led by
circuit personnel.
Appreciative attendees gave £8
12s towards Houston’s
evangelistic mission.
‘Backsliders were recovered,
faithful workers received a rich
baptism, and the whole Church
was refreshed’.
Saturday evening evangelistic
service to begin
‘Large gatherings have
assembled night after night. On
the very last night of the
mission – Friday April 9th – the
large chapel at Moonta Mines
was filled to overflowing,
while numbers were unable to
obtain admission’.
Capacity attendances at each
meeting. WCTU established as
a result of her mission.
‘Many believing people have
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
1886
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Houston
can be gathered the
practical results are not
very great’.
‘During the mission 1,452
pledges had been taken’.
Additional 100 pledges
taken at the Stockade.
‘Twelve or more persons
have decided to abandon
the life of self for life in
Christ’.
‘I cannot give the exact
number of those who were
added to the Church, but
almost every night there
was heard the cry of the
penitent and the rejoicing
of the new-born soul; and
some nights there were
four or five seekers after
God’.
‘About twenty-five persons
in all have professed to find
peace’.
At least eleven joined the
church.
been quickened into greater
zeal in God’s cause’.
Total Abstinence
League
Gospel Temperance
Mission
R2
16 April-1
May 1886
Adelaide
Two weeks
Invitation – R.T.
Booth
Wesleyan
Special evangelistic
services
R2
July 1886
Aldgate – Iron Bark
Two weeks
Circuit decision
Wesleyan
Eight days’ mission
R2
AugustSeptember
1886
Glenelg
Eight days
Circuit Minister
– the Rev. D.
O’Donnell
Wesleyan
Special evangelistic
services
R2
SeptemberOctober 1886
Border Town
Two weeks?
Bible Christian
Revival
R2
October 1886
Wirrabara Circuit –
Appila West
Three weeks
Circuit Minister
– the Rev. A. D.
Bennett
Special services
Wesleyan
Special revival services
R2
17-29 April
1887
Gawler
Twelve days
347
Invitation – the
Rev. D.
O’Donnell –
Conference
evangelist.
68 conversions of whom 56
are in the 10-20 age bracket
(Sunday School scholars).
‘Night after night the Town
Hall is well filled, and on each
occasion a deep impression is
made’.
‘The attendance at the meetings
are now large, and great
interest is shown by the people
of the district’.
Reference
191
192
193
Sunday evening evangelistic
service conducted in the
Institute.
Mr. W. Partridge, a young
man, assisted in the conduct of
the services. He ‘appears to
possess peculiar qualifications
for such work, the attendance
has been large, and God’s
presence manifested at each
meeting’.
‘Showers of blessing’ reported.
‘Many of God’s people have
been enabled to declare wholly
for Christ, and are resolved in
His strength to live “out and
194
195
196
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Reference
out” thoroughly devoted
Christian lives’.
Wesleyan
Special revival services
R2
1-6 May
1887
Templers Circuit
Five days
Invitation – the
Rev. D.
O’Donnell –
Conference
evangelist
Two conversions
Wesleyan,
Baptist,
Salvation Army
Special revival services
R2
7-13 May
1887
Angaston
Six days
Invitation – the
Rev. D.
O’Donnell –
Conference
evangelist
One conversion.
Twelve believers seek
holiness
Young people possess a ‘dread
of being saved’. O’Donnell
visits them in their homes or at
their work-site.
Wesleyan
Special revival services
R2
15-27 May
1887
Kapunda and Tarlee
Twelve days
Eighty-six conversions
(from 112 seekers). This
included 40 Sunday school
scholars.
Nineteen believers seek
‘full salvation’.
Nine came out seeking
‘purity of heart’.
The cumulative total for
seekers of salvation for the
first six weeks is 227.
Wesleyans and salvation Army
parade through Kapunda and
Tarlee. At Kapunda, O’Donnell
addresses a crowd of 600 in
front of the Army barracks. At
Tarlee, O’Donnell addresses
1,000 people in the open-air,
‘hundreds of whom were
young men, who listened to
every word with the greatest
quietness’.
5-12 June
1887
Clare
Seventy-five conversions.
Sunday 12th June at a
service for the young, the
following conversions were
recorded – total fifty-one,
being:
Under ten years – 17,
Ten to fifteen – 30,
Above fifteen – 4.
There were also eleven
believers seeking holiness.
The congregations attending
the nightly meetings were
large.
Wesleyan
Special revival services
R2
Invitation – the
Rev. D.
O’Donnell –
Conference
evangelist
Seven days
348
Invitation – the
Rev. D.
O’Donnell –
Conference
evangelist
197
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Wesleyan
Special revival services
R2
26 June-1
July 1887
Mintaro
Six days
Invitation – the
Rev. D.
O’Donnell –
Conference
evangelist.
Forty-seven conversions.
Twelve believers sought
holiness. Four believers
sought purity.
Wesleyan
Special revival services
R2
2 July-12
July 1887
Terowie
Ten days
May-June
1887
Clarendon Circuit
Bible Christian
Special services
R2
The Rev. D.
O’Donnell
Kangarilla (May)
One month
Clarendon
Two weeks
Meetings
conducted by
the Rev. C.
Tresise.
The Rev. C.
Tresise
Special services
R2
16-29 July
1887
Port Adelaide Circuit
– Alberton (one week)
and Portland (one
Two weeks
349
Twenty-six ‘decided for
Christ’.
The Quarterly Meeting held on
21 September 1887 reported
the membership had ‘increased
from 93 to 114, with 70 on
trial’. Furthermore, ‘between
forty and fifty of the scholars
had been converted during the
quarter’. A resolution
‘expressing thankfulness to
Almighty God for the success
attending the Conference
Evangelist in his mission at
Terowie, and for the extension
of the work to other parts of the
Circuit, was very heartily
agreed to’.
The first Bible Christian
Conference Evangelist
appointed in South Australia
was the Rev. C. Tresise. He
was appointed at the Bible
Christian Conference in
February 1887.
‘Over thirty gave their
heart to Christ, and several
came for the blessing of
“perfect love”’.
‘Altogether about 20
persons professed
conversion during the
‘The attendance was good, and
the meeting gradually
increased in interest and
Sixty-one ‘professed to
find the Saviour’.
Willunga
Bible Christian
Fifty-five conversions.
Eleven believers seek
holiness.
Nine believers seek ‘purity
of heart’.
During an overnight visit to
Terowie on 17 November
1887, O’Donnell reported
that, ‘We are thankful to
God to find that nearly all
who gave themselves to the
Saviour four months
previously are still “kept by
the power of God, through
faith unto salvation”’.
Invitation – The
Rev. C. Tresise
Other Effects
Reference
198
199
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Wesleyan
Special revival services
R2
23 July-6
August 1887
Wesleyan
Special revival services
R2
Wesleyan
Special revival services
Wesleyan
Special revival services
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Moonta Mines
Two weeks
Invitation – the
Rev. D.
O’Donnell –
Conference
Evangelist
7-19 August
1887
Kadina
Two weeks
Invitation – the
Rev. D.
O’Donnell
R2
20-26 August
1887
Maitland
One week
Invitation – the
Rev. D.
O’Donnell
‘Total number of enquirers
who have been dealt with
during the week is 63’.
This includes nineteen
Sunday school scholars:
Ten to Fifteen years – 16.
Under ten years – 3.
R2
28 August-1
September
1887
Port Wakefield Circuit
– Port Wakefield and
Whitwarta
Five days
Invitation – the
Rev. D.
O’Donnell
‘Total number of persons
who had come to the
penitent form was about
70’.
Additional 29 ‘Souls
brought to Jesus’ after
O’Donnell left.
Cumulative total of 827
week).
350
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Reference
fortnight’.
power’.
‘The number of seekers
who have been dealt with
during the fourteen days at
Moonta Mines is 130’. This
includes forty-seven
Sunday school scholars:
Ten to Fifteen years – 40.
Under ten years – 7.
‘Number of penitents dealt
with during the fortnight is
135’.
‘The total number [seekers]
since the Conference
Evangelist commenced his
labours is 562’.
200
‘The gracious influence
seemed to deepen and extend
each day, so that most of the
sister Churches shared in the
blessing and participated in the
results’.
The Quarterly Meeting of 6
October 1887 reported that
there were ‘115 full members,
with 43 on trial’. Reference
‘was made to the Rev. D.
O’Donnell’s recent visit, and
also to the good work that has
since taken place at Arthurton,
and devout thankfulness was
expressed to the great Head of
the Church for the soul-saving
power that had been
experienced.
Mission centred on Whitwarta
(16 miles out in the country).
Special timber, iron, and
canvas ‘tabernacle in the
wilderness’, capable of seating
250 constructed. The
congregation on each occasion
exceeded the capacity of the
201
202
203
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
penitents.
structure.
The Quarterly Meeting of 28
September 1887 reported there
were 130 persons in Church
membership, with 93 on trial.
The evangelistic services were
deemed ‘a great revival which
God had graciously given’. The
December Quarterly Meeting
reported an increase of 69
members for the quarter with
21 on trial.
In 1934, the preparatory
work of the then Circuit
Minister, the Rev. W.H.
Hanton, in the two years
before O’Donnell’s visit
was acknowledged.
First three
weeks of
August
10-16
September
1887
18-24
September
1887
Auburn and Watervale
Three weeks
Invitation – the
Rev. C. Tresise
Jamestown
Six days
Laura
Six days
Invitation – the
Rev. D.
O’Donnell
Invitation – the
Rev. D.
O’Donnell
R2
25
September-1
October 1887
Crystal Brook
Six days
Invitation – the
Rev. D.
O’Donnell
R2
Unknown
Willunga Circuit
Unknown
Visit – the Rev.
C. T. Newman
(Jubilee
Secretary)
Bible Christian
Special services
R2
Wesleyan
Special revival services
R2
Wesleyan
Special revival services
R2
Wesleyan
Special revival services
Wesleyan
‘A gracious work’
351
‘About 30 persons
expressed decision for
Christ’.
Eight sought holiness.
Eleven ‘sinners yielded
themselves to God’.
Thirty one conversions
with an additional twelve
on the Sunday 25
September after O’Donnell
left.
Nine sought entire
sanctification.
Six ‘souls were brought to
Jesus’ during the mission
and a further fifteen after
the Evangelist left. Eleven
sought holiness.
‘A gracious work, begun in
the Willunga Circuit
through the visit of the
Rev. C. T. Newman, has
Reference
204
205
‘Members of the Baptist and
Primitive Methodist Churches,
with their respective ministers,
cordially operated in the
mission.
206
On the Sunday afternoon (25
September 1887) service for
young people at which ‘there
was an excellent gathering. A
spirit of deep seriousness
rested upon the assembly, but
not one of the scholars would
openly surrender to God’.
This was reported at the
Wesleyan Southern District
Meeting on 18 October, 1887.
207
208
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Melrose – including
Willowie and
Fullerville
Quorn
Seven days
29 October-4
November
1887
Port Pirie – including
Wandearah
Seven days
Invitation – the
Rev. D.
O’Donnell
19 November
- 2 December
1887
Broken Hill
Two weeks
Invitation – the
Rev. D.
O’Donnell
Wesleyan
Special revival services
R2
8 October-14
October 1887
Wesleyan
Special revival services
R2
16 October21 October
1887
Wesleyan
Special revival services
R2
Wesleyan
Special revival services
R2
Six days
352
Invitation – the
Rev. D.
O’Donnell
Invitation – the
Rev. D.
O’Donnell
Souls Saved
been going on since with
the addition of 60 members
as one of the results’.
Thirty-nine found
forgiveness of sins.
Thirty-three ‘souls saved’.
Thirteen sought perfect
holiness.
Thirty-six ‘penitents in all
dealt with’.
Year to date cumulative
totals:
‘At these services upwards
of one thousand persons
have presented themselves
publicly as penitent seekers
of the Saviour. Of this
number, 93 are under ten
years of age; 363 are
between ten and sixteen
years, and 570 are above
sixteen years’.
First week: Eleven
conversions. Scores of
believers sought holiness.
Second week: Unavailable
Other Effects
Reference
A class meeting had been
established, ‘with 63 meeting
in it’.
‘The minister and members of
the Bible Christian Church and
the officers and soldiers of the
Salvation Army rendered us
valuable assistance during the
mission’.
‘How many of them have been
truly converted is not for us to
decide. God knows. How many
will reach the goal of eternal
bliss, who can tell?
209
Statistics – End of 1887
figures. ‘The evangelist had
preached during the year 222
sermons, and given 29 other
addresses and 63 Bible
readings. The spiritual results
reported had been gratifying,
1,120 persons having presented
themselves as penitents. Of
these 613 were over 16 years of
age’.
212
210
211
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Bible Christian
Special services
R2
Third Quarter
1887
Port Adelaide and
Alberton
Four weeks
Invitation – the
Rev. C. Tresise
‘56 souls have professed to
find Christ’.
Gawler
One week
‘Eight souls came out on
the Lord’s side’.
Auburn Circuit
Three weeks
‘Twenty-four professed to
find Christ and many of
them were admitted into
our Churches’.
Hallett Circuit –
including a fortnight
spent at Mount Bryan
in the Kooringa
Circuit.
Five weeks
‘26 souls have come out on
the Lord’s side’.
Adelaide
Unknown
Kapunda Circuit –
Kapunda, Hamilton,
Marrabel, Springfield.
Unknown
‘A few added to the
number of the saved’.
Barrier District –
Pinnacles
Broken Hill
One week
A few conversions.
Two weeks
Silverton
Two weeks
Forty sign the Temperance
pledge.
‘Many decisions for
Christ’.
Queenstown and New
Glenelg Station
At least five
weeks
Bible Christian
Primitive
Methodists
Special services
Revival
R2
R2 with
elements
Fourth
Quarter 1887
Third Quarter
1887
353
Invitation – the
Rev. C. Tresise
‘Increased spirit
of prayer and
‘A few deeply interesting
decisions for Christ’.
Unknown. Classes were
formed to accommodate
Other Effects
Reference
213
At Broken Hill it was ‘difficult
to get the masses inside the
building’.
‘Liquor traffic has strong
sway’.
‘Together with the Rev. D.
O’Donnell and the ministers of
the town with a few godly
laymen we initiated an open air
gospel temperance meeting’.
It was reported at the Adelaide
February Bible Christian
Conference, that 250 persons
professed conversion during
1887 as a result of the
evangelist’s work.
‘It may be stated that all the
churches in the neighborhood
214
215
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
of R3
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
expectancy
indicated an
approaching
spiritual
awakening’.
the converts.
Seven believers sought
‘purity of heart’.
Nineteen conversions in
addition to forty four
Sunday school scholars
who ‘yielded to the call of
the Spirit and professed to
find Jesus’.
Ages:
From 10 to 16 years – 29.
From 7 to 10 years – 15.g
Thirteen ‘souls won for
Jesus’.
will be benefited through the
good work God hath wrought.
A large number of the young
men and women, attendants at
the Baptist and Wesleyan
Churches, are amongst the
saved of the Lord’.
‘The afternoon service
[Saturday 25 February] for the
young was a season of much
power and blessing, during
which many of the teachers
wept for sheer joy of heart’.
A further eight conversions are
recorded after O’Donnell
departs, as well as the
formation of two new classes.
Wesleyan
Special revival services
R2
18 February3 March 1888
Mount Gambier
Two weeks
Invitation – the
Rev. D.
O’Donnell
Wesleyan
Special revival services
R2
4-8 March
1888
Kingston
Five days
Invitation –the
Rev. D.
O’Donnell
Wesleyan
Holiness mission
R2
March 1888
Adelaide – Pirie Street
One week
Invitation – the
Rev. D.
O’Donnell
‘Several believers were
enabled to surrender all to
Jesus and enter upon the
“abundant life”’.
Wesleyan
Special revival services
R2
25-30 March
1888
Silverton (Barrier)
One week
Invitation –the
Rev. D.
O’Donnell
No conversions recorded.
‘During the week we again
proved the difficulty of
getting the people to the
house of God except on
Sundays. The intense heat
is no doubt in part the
cause of this’.
354
‘Upwards of twenty young
people had yielded themselves
to Jesus’ following
O’Donnell’s departure.
‘The Spirit of God was present
with us at every service, and on
two or three occasions the
divine influence was almost
overwhelming’.
This concluded the
appointment of O’Donnell as
the Conference evangelist.
The year to date statistics are
recorded as:
‘We have conducted missions
in 25 localities; have preached
270 times; delivered 50
addresses; conducted 78 Biblereadings; and dealt personally
Reference
216
217
218
219
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Wesleyan
Mission – Conference
Evangelist
R2
7-20 April
1888
Aldinga – Willunga
Circuit
Two weeks
Invitation – the
Rev. G. W.
Kendrew –
Conference
evangelist
‘Many believed and turned
unto the Lord’. Sunday
School scholars signified
their intention to turn to
Jesus.
Wesleyan
Mission – Conference
Evangelist
R2
22-27 April
1888
McLaren Vale –
Willunga Circuit
One week
Invitation – the
Rev. G. W.
Kendrew
‘Night by night there were
added to the Lord such as
were being saved’.
Wesleyan
Mission – Conference
Evangelist
R2
29 April-10
May 1888
Yankalilla Circuit –
Harcourt, Cornhill,
Glenburn, Finnis Vale,
Yankalilla.
Two weeks
Invitation – the
Rev. G. W.
Kendrew
Thirty-six ‘professed to
give themselves to the
Saviour’.
Wesleyan
Mission – Conference
Evangelist
R2
May-June
1888
Mount Barker Circuit
– Mount Barker,
Macclesfield, Echunga
Three weeks
Invitation – the
Rev. G. W.
Kendrew
Wesleyan
Mission – Conference
Evangelist
R2
June 1888
Magill
Two weeks
(Does not
include a week
of preparation
before and a
Invitation –the
Rev. G. W.
Kendrew
At Echunga, ‘about thirty
persons decided for Christ.
At the other places the fruit
of the mission is seen in a
revived Church and several
additions to the classes’.
‘Night after night trophies
were one for Jesus. God’s
people have been richly
blessed, and our joy has
been great to see so many
Other Effects
Reference
with 1,235 penitents’.
355
‘The second week of services
…were crowned with rich
blessing. The whole district
was moved, and the people
came in crowds from far and
near…The concluding services
on Thursday and Friday were
times of great power, and “the
slain of the Lord were many”.
The front forms were crowded
with penitents seeking
salvation, and the old members
testified, saying, “We never
saw it on this fashion”’.
‘Large numbers of people
attended the services, until at
last the communion rail was
invaded, and people sat in the
pulpit’.
‘The higher Christian life was
the topic almost throughout…If
the stirring up of the Church is
the only result it will prove of
great importance’.
At Echunga, ‘the whole
neighborhood became
interested’.
220
221
222
223
224
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Wesleyan
Revival services
R2
June 1888
Wallaroo
Two weeks
Wesleyan
Revival services
R2
June-July
1888
Archer Street, North
Adelaide
Three weeks
Bible Christian
Revival
R2
Third Quarter
1888
Willowie
Chas Martin – Bible
Christian Minister
Four weeks
Initiating
Action
week after.)
Other Effects
Reference
‘Twenty-two cases of
conversion were recorded’.
Some members were enabled
to “enter into the Holiest by the
blood of Jesus”’.
225
Numbers of young people
have given their hearts to
God’.
‘About forty persons,
mostly adults professed to
find Christ’. Includes seven
Sunday school scholars.
Noon day prayer meetings and
street bands employed.
226
Junior Members’ Class formed.
A theological class is being
formed.
227
accepting Christ’.
Conducted by
the Rev. D.
O’Donnell,
Circuit Minister
Invitation – the
Rev. G. W.
Kendrew
Some
conversions
followed by
special services.
Wesleyan,
Congregational,
Primitive
Methodist,
Bible Christian,
Wesleyan
Combined revival
services
R2
July 1888
Wallaroo Mines
Four weeks
Combined
action of
Protestant
churches
Mission – Conference
Evangelist
R2
12-24 August
1888
Quorn Circuit
Two weeks
Invitation – the
Rev. G. W.
Kendrew
Wesleyan
Mission –
Conference Evangelist
R2
AugustSeptember
1888
Hawker Circuit
Two weeks
Invitation – the
Rev. G. W.
Kendrew
356
Souls Saved
‘The total number of
seekers is upwards of 90,
most of whom are now
enrolled in Church
fellowship’.
‘More than 40 persons
sought and found the
Saviour’.
‘Two or three consecration
services for members of the
Church were blessed of
God in deepening spiritual
life’.
‘Conversion of the
unconverted’ and
‘quickening of church
Over a year later it was
reported that ‘the results of the
revival have been well
conserved; not a single case of
unfaithfulness being reported
among the new converts, and
sufficient has been added to
make up for removals’.
All ministers took an active
past. Combined operations to
commence in Kadina.
228
United service held on 24
August. Bible Christian and
Salvation Army ‘rendered
valuable assistance’. Weekly
united evangelistic services to
continue.
229
Appeals for ‘full consecration
to God’. Evangelistic services
continue at Arkaba.
230
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Wesleyan
Mission – Conference
Evangelist
R2
31
September-13
October 1888
Yarrowie – Laura
Circuit
Two weeks
Invitation – the
Rev. G. W.
Kendrew
Wesleyan
Mission – Conference
Evangelist
R2
14-25
October 1888
Yacka and Koolunga
Two weeks
Invitation – the
Rev. G. W.
Kendrew
Wesleyan
Mission – Conference
Evangelist
R2
17 February11 March
1889
Southern Yorke
Peninsula
Three weeks
Invitation – the
Rev. G. W.
Kendrew
Wesleyan
Mission – Conference
Evangelist
R2
March-April
1889
Pirie Street Circuit
Four weeks
Invitation – the
Rev. G. W.
Kendrew
Wesleyan
Mission – Conference
Evangelist
R2
24 May-8
June 1889
Two weeks
Invitation – the
Rev. G. W.
Kendrew
Wesleyan
Mission – Conference
Evangelist
R2
23 June-5
July 1889
Port Wakefield,
Port Pirie,
Wandearah West,
Redhill,
Mundoora.
Laura
Two weeks
Invitation – the
Rev. G. W.
Kendrew
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Reference
members’ reported.
357
Twenty ‘decided for
Christ’, in addition to a
number of older Sunday
School scholars.
‘Many professed to give
themselves to Christ,
members of the Church
were revived’.
Warooka: ‘The
unconverted were eager for
the truth, and yielded
themselves to Christ in
such numbers that even our
good Father Bawden said,
“I have never seen
anything like it before”’.
Some conversions
recorded. At Draper
Memorial Church – 100
young men and women
‘made a confession for
Christ’.
Some ‘decisions for Christ’
recorded at each location.
‘During the mission ten or
twelve adults were led to
trust in Christ. Others are
under conviction and still
seeking’.
231
‘Large congregations
assembles night after night to
hear the word’.
232
S.A. Wesleyan Methodist
Conference appointed the Rev.
G. W. Kendrew as Conference
Evangelist for another year.
Edithburgh: In addition to the
revival of spiritual life in the
hearts of the members of the
Church, a large number of
people made a public
confession of faith in Christ as
their Saviour’.
Young People’s weekly service
to be held at Draper Memorial
on Fridays in order to support
the commitments made.
233
At Redhill ‘a number of young
people decided to give
themselves to God, and are
willing to meet in a young
people’s class’.
‘On the Friday night [5 July]
the powerful influence in the
church was almost
overwhelming. The presence of
the Holy Spirit was most
235
234
236
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
manifest, and the prevailing
feeling was “How awful is this
place!”’.
At Wilmington, the ‘church has
become a centre of influence
and power, and conversions
still take place at our ordinary
services’.
Wesleyan
Mission – Conference
Evangelist
R2
August 1889
Melrose, Fullerville,
Willowie,
Wilmington, Amyton.
Three weeks
Invitation – the
Rev G. W.
Kendrew
At each place there were
‘decisions for Christ’.
Wesleyan
Mission – Conference
Evangelist
R2
28 July-8
August 18890
Johnsburgh
Ten days
Invitation – the
Rev. G. W.
Kendrew
Wesleyan
Revival
R2
July-October
1889
Moonta
Three months
Sunday morning
prayer meeting –
21 July 1889
Wesleyan
Spiritual quickening
R2
September
1889
Archer and Melbourne
Street Churches, North
Adelaide.
Two weeks
Primitive
Methodist,
Wesleyan
‘Gracious Visitation of
the Holy Spirit’.
R2
Third Quarter
1889
Callington
Unknown
Invitation – the
Rev. G. W.
Kendrew.
Special prayer
services
Unknown
‘The Church has been
quickened and many souls
saved through these special
services’.
Fifty conversions with an
additional thirty-five
during ordinary week
evening services and class
meetings.
‘Many sinners have been
saved’.
Bible Christian
Revival
R2
Third Quarter
1889
Balaklava Circuit –
Halbury and Hall.
Unknown
Special
evangelistic
services
Halbury: Forty
conversions.
Hall: ‘Nearly all the young
people in the small
congregations have
accepted Christ. Some
fifteen or sixteen have
joined the Church’.
Mount Torrens Circuit
– Cudlee Creek
Unknown
Special services
Thirty conversions
358
‘Both sections have been
quickened, and we believe
good work has been done’.
Reference
237
238
‘Some of the other churches
are being beneficially affected
by the movement, which
promises to extend’.
239
‘Young Christians’ Band led
by two or three preachers has
done good work’.
240
‘Primitive and Wesleyan
Methodists united in efforts to
gather in the fruits of labors of
past preachers and teachers’.
241
242
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Chain of Ponds
Unknown
Special services
Wesleyan
Revival
R2 or R3
January 1890
Angaston Circuit
Unknown
Unknown
‘Several gave themselves
to Christ’.
‘Altogether about 60 have
given their hearts to the
Saviour’.
Bible Christian
Evangelistic Mission
R2
June-July
1890
Goodwood Circuit
One week
Debt reduction
Twelve conversions – nine
joined the Church
Bible Christian &
Temperance Groups
Temperance and
Evangelistic Mission
R2
17 August-9
October 1890
Adelaide and selected
country towns
Seven weeks
‘One hundred souls added
to the Churches’.
Bible Christian
Revival
Most
likely R3
Third Quarter
1890
Yankalilla Circuit –
Inman Valley and
Myponga Flat
The start of the
revival is
attributed to a
band of young
men was
formed to take
services.
Invitation – Mr.
Richard Coad
(Temperance
Advocate and
Evangelist)
Unknown
Bible Christian
Revival services – Lady
Evangelists
R2
Third Quarter
1891
Bowden Circuit
Possibly two
weeks.
Invitation –
Misses Nesbit
and Green
‘Over thirty conversions
and times of refreshing to
all’.
Mount Lofty Circuit
Unknown
Snowtown
Crystal Brook
Orroroo
Port Pirie
Lady
Evangelists
spent time at
each place.
Bible Christian
Revival services – Lady
Evangelists
R2
Fourth
Quarter 1891
359
‘Upwards of ninety have
openly declared themselves
to be on the side of Christ’.
‘Upwards of a hundred
persons professed
conversion’.
Invitation –
Misses Nesbit
and Green
Snowtown – Twenty
conversions.
Crystal Brook –
‘Considerable number of
conversions’.
Other Effects
Reference
‘There has been a gracious
revival among the children in
this circuit, especially at
Greenock…Several new
classes have been formed’.
Four hundred and fifty leaflets
delivered to homes by YMCA
members, announcing the
week’s services.
Converts only reported from
two missions – one of five days
(Adelaide), and the other of
four days (Goodwood).
243
The revival which took place at
the Inman Valley Bible
Christian Church was
considered to be a ‘great
revival’.
Mr. H.J. Dennis (later local
preacher and Superintendent of
the Sunday school).
246
244
245
247
Age of those converted ranged
from 14 to 70 years of age.
Conversions took place in
chapels, houses, and gardens.
The conversions noted for Port
Pirie were not attributed
specifically to Nesbit and
Green. As Port Pirie is in the
vicinity of the other towns
248
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Orroroo – Sixteen
conversions.
Morchard – ‘Some seven
or eight have decided for
Christ’.
Port Pirie – Forty
conversions.
‘The Lord gathered twenty
two souls into His fold’.
mentioned, it is likely that the
evangelists were present, as
part of a Gospel Mission to the
area.
Bible Christian
Revival services – Lady
Evangelists
R2
March 1892
Yankalilla
One week
Invitation –
Misses Nesbit
and Green
Wesleyan and
Baptist
Revival
R2
May-June
1892
Petersburgh.
At Yongala the
Primitive Methodists
united with the
Salvation Army and
Wesleyans for special
services.
Six weeks
‘A desire for the
outpouring of
the Holy Spirit’.
Week One: ‘Souls were
converted each evening’.
Weeks Two and Three –
Not reported. Later it was
stated that over forty
persons had ‘signified the
desire’ to join the
Wesleyan Methodists.
Bible Christian
Revival services – lady
Evangelists
R2
April-May
1892
Port Augusta Circuit
and Orroroo
April-May
1892
Invitation –
Misses Nesbit
and Green
Bible Christian
Revival services – Lady
Evangelist
R2
June 1892
Port Pirie
Two weeks
Invitation –
Miss McLennan
Wesleyan
Revival – Evangelistic
work conducted by the
R2
April-June
1892
Pirie Street Circuit –
Draper Memorial,
Three months
Evangelistic
work
Port Augusta – Eighty-five
conversions.
Orroroo – Thirty
conversions.
Not recorded. ‘Miss
McLennan’s fortnight’s
mission has been greatly
blessed at Port Pirie’.
The result was an
ingathering of nearly 400
360
‘Amongst whom were two
young men for whose salvation
all God’s people were
particularly thankful, and all
present rejoiced greatly when
they witnessed their conversion
, as they had gone deeply into
sin’.
Special means included:
Singing and preaching band
went out before each service.
Invitations to attend services
issued by the band.
Joined with the Baptists in
week two. Petersburg Times
reported on the Sunday 1 May
sermon of the Wesleyan
Minister, the Rev W. A.
Langsford as, ‘Plain speaking
from the Pulpit’.
Reference
249
250
251
‘Our work at Port Pirie
demands now a local habitation
of its own’.
252
Christian Endeavour Society
formed at Thebarton.
253
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Revs. J.R. Bradbury
(Circuit Minister) and D.
O’Donnell (from
Victoria).
Wesleyan
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Pirie Street,
Thebarton, Fulham,
and Plympton.
Special evangelistic
services
Convention – Deepening
of Spiritual Life
R2
Wesleyan
Special mission services
Wesleyan
Souls Saved
persons, 50 per cent adults.
The largest number at
Draper Memorial’. This
includes forty who ‘gave
their hearts to God’ at
Thebarton .
‘Between forty and fifty
have decided for Christ’.
‘Many believers were led
to seek “a closer walk with
God”’. ‘A considerable
number of persons sought
and found God’s pardoning
grace’.
June-July
1892
June-July
1892
Terowie Circuit Franklyn
Pirie Street, Glenelg,
Unley, Parkside,
Archer Street, Kent
Town
Six weeks
Special services
Three weeks
Invitation – the
Rev. J. Watsford
R2
June-July
1892
Hawker
Six weeks
Special services
R2
August 1892
Maitland
One week
A number of
individual
conversions.
Circuit decision
Wesleyan
Special services
R2
August 1892
Quorn
Two weeks
Circuit decision
Bible Christian
Revival services – Lady
Evangelists
R2
JulyAugust 1892
Five weeks
Invitation –
Misses
McLennan and
Angell
Bible Christian
Revival services – Lady
Evangelists
R2
Third Quarter
1892
Condowie, Saltlake,
Snowtown, Wiltunga,
Cameron, Port
Broughton, Wokurna
East
Port Elliot Circuit
Unknown
Invitation –
Miss Catchlove
Thirty ‘souls converted’.
Wesleyan
Special mission services
R2
August 1892
Parkside
Ten days
Circuit decision
‘Souls have been converted
Wesleyan
R2
361
Other Effects
Reference
254
Editorial Comment: C.W. &
M.J., 22 July 1892. During
missions ‘the conversion of
sinners is the primary end in
view, and it is hoped believers
may also be quickened and
revived; but in this instance the
order was reversed’.
255
Fourteen decided for
Christ.
256
Twenty-four conversions
plus an additional four at
services following.
‘Many believers have been
blessedly quickened, and
some good cases of
conversion have been
witnessed’.
Forty-four converts
257
Christian Endeavour Society
(commenced three months ago)
to continue work amongst the
young people.
258
At Wokurna East a Sunday
School has been started.
Christian Endeavour Society
started in Ward’s Hill.
259
‘The expansion of the
denominational area must
come by these means’.
Assistance also given by
260
261
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
– conducted by
the minister and
local preachers
Relieved the
Rev. J Blacket
for two weeks
rest.
Invitation –
Miss McLennan
and Christians quickened’.
YMCA members and the Rev
G. W. Kendrew
Wesleyan
Special mission services
R2
30 October-9
November
1892
Edithburgh
Ten days
Bible Christian
Revival services – Lady
Evangelist
R2
November
1892
Carrieton Circuit
Three weeks
Bible Christian
Revival services – Lady
Evangelist
R2
April-May
1893
Yankalilla Circuit
Five weeks
Invitation –
Miss Catchlove
Bible Christian
Revival services – Lady
Evangelists
R2
June 1893
Broken Hill
Unknown
Invitation –
Miss H.
McLennan.
June 1893
Kadina Circuit –
Willamulka
Four weeks
June 1893
Port Adelaide Circuit
– Glanville, Alberton,
Portland.
9-13 July
1893
Mount Torrens Circuit
– Zion Chapel, Chain
Forty souls converted
Reference
262
‘Nearly thirty conversions’.
‘Several found Christ
before our mission
commenced, and two have
come to Jesus since Miss
McLennan left’.
Myponga – ‘salvation of
many souls’.
Inman Valley – ‘a few
were added to the church’.
Yankalilla – ‘A few came
to life’.
Dairy Flat – ‘Several found
Christ, and more in their
homes’.
‘Souls are being saved’.
‘We have had a blessed
revival’.
‘A tidal wave of salvation has
come in our circuit, and we are
expecting to see the work go
on’.
Myponga – ‘The “fire” has
been burning at Myponga for
the last three years’.
Inman Valley – Increased
attendance at the Christian
Endeavour Society meetings.
Formation of a ‘large adult
Bible class’.
263
‘House to house visitation’.
‘Open air meetings’. ‘Large
crowds in the streets’.
265
Invitation –
Miss Agnes
McLennan.
‘Some twenty-two persons
decided for Christ’.
‘We expect welcome recruits to
the ranks of our ministry, of
our evangelists, and of our
volunteer forces for China’.
Four weeks
Invitation –
Miss Catchlove
Converts at each location.
Some were young people.
Numbers not stated.
Christian Endeavour Societies
formed at each location.
Five days
Invitation –
Miss Catchlove
‘A number stood up for
Jesus’.
Christian Endeavour Society
formed.
362
264
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Reference
Balaclava – Twenty
conversions.
Halbury – Twenty
conversions. Christian
Endeavour Society (CE)
formed.
Inkerman – ‘A few capital
cases of conversion
obtained’. CE Society
revived.
Sixteen conversions.
‘The spiritual life of the
members was deepened, and
the influences of the revival
widely extended’.
266
At Arden Vale, ‘a Christian
Endeavour Society was started
to retain the converts’.
‘The Prospect Wesleyan
Church has received a large
addition of young men, whilst
at Walkerville, Mr. Mouland
has started an afternoon weekly
class of adults as an indirect
result of the services’.
Formation of a Christian
Endeavour Society.
267
Wesleyan Hawker Circuit
Quarterly Meeting of 29
September 1893 reported
seventy three on trial. Later
(December), it was reported
that ‘130 have been received
into church fellowship’.
270
of Ponds.
Bible Christian
Revival Services – Lady
Evangelists
R2
July-August
1893
Balaclava Circuit –
Balaclava, Halbury,
Inkerman
Five weeks
Invitation –
Misses Agnes
McLennan and
Catchlove
Wesleyan
Revival
R2
August 1893
A few weeks
Special services
Wesleyan
Evangelistic Mission
R2
AugustSeptember
1893
Quorn Circuit – Arden
Vale, Booleunda,
Willochra.
Prospect and
Walkerville district
Four weeks
United mission
services held for
three weeks
prior to the
Wesleyan
initiative.
‘A large increase of
members has resulted in all
the Churches under the
charge of these ministers’.
Wesleyan
‘Showers of Blessing’
R2
AugustSeptember
1893
Reynella
Unknown
‘Prayers of
God’s people’.
Wesleyan
‘Reaping – Harvest of
Souls’.
R2 or R3
AugustSeptember
1893
Hawker Circuit
Two months
Invitation –
Misses Green
and Nesbit
‘In nearly every household
some have decided for
Christ, and in one instance
the whole family are now
on the Lord’s side’.
‘Harvest of souls’.
Rev. H. Wilkinson reported
at the South Australian
Wesleyan Methodist
Conference on 28 February
1894 that the following
conversions occurred:
Uroonda – 70.
Hawker – 12.
Arkaba – 25.
363
268
269
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Wesleyan
Revivals
R2 or R3
1893
Primitive Methodist
Evangelistic services
R2
Third Quarter
1893
Bible Christian
Revival services – Lady
Evangelist
R2
Bible Christian
Revival services – Lady
Evangelist
Evangelistic services
R2
Wesleyan
‘Showers of Blessing’ –
Lady Evangelists
Wesleyan
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Wilson – 30.
‘They had received nearly
100 young persons into
Church membership, and
there were more to follow’.
No details given
Several circuits in the
Northern District
Mount Barker Circuit
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Circuit decision
November
1893
Willunga Circuit
Four weeks
Invitation –
Miss Catchlove
Fourth
Quarter 1893
January 1894
Kulpara Circuit Wiltunga
Happy Valley
Reservoir
Four weeks
‘A few conversions’.
R2
1 April-20
April 1894
Mount Barker Circuit
– Mount Barker and
Echunga
Three weeks
Invitation –
Miss Vierk
Christian
Endeavourers
from the
Goodwood
Circuit
Invitation –
Misses Green
and Nesbit
Revival services – Lady
Evangelists
R2
May 1894
Gumeracha Circuit
Ten days
‘About fifty were
reconciled to God’.
Bible Christian
Revival services – Lady
Evangelist
R2
May 1894
Broken Hill Circuit –
South Broken Hill and
Cockburn
Four weeks
Invitation –
Misses Green
and Nesbit
Invitation –
Miss Catchlove
Bible Christian
Ordinary services
R3
April-May
1894
Bowden
Ordinary
services
Circuit Minister
– the Rev. C. E.
‘Over forty conversions
have been witnessed in the
Bible Christian
R2
Unknown – a
number of
visits
364
‘No less than forty-two
precious souls have
professed to find peace’.
‘While we had gracious
seasons, only a few could
be prevailed with to take up
the cross and decide for
Christ’.
Other Effects
Reference
Reported as part of editorial in
the Wesleyan Church serial.
Quarterly Meeting of 5
September 1893 reported a ‘net
increase of thirty members’.
271
72
273
274
‘Some twenty persons were
brought to Christ’.
Open-air services held to
attract men working on the
dam-site.
275
‘About thirty-two decided
for Christ’.
South Australian Wesleyan
Methodist Conference held in
February 1894 approved the
use of Lady Evangelists.
‘Many were connected with the
Baptist Church’.
276
The Rev. William T. Shapely
reported a total of fifty
conversions since he arrived in
April.
Christian Endeavour Society
formed.
278
‘Over thirty have decided
for Christ’.
277
279
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Wesleyan
Revival services – Lady
Evangelists
R2
March-15
June 1894
Thirteen weeks
Wesleyan
Revival services – Lady
Evangelists
R2
May-June
1894
Port Wakefield Circuit
– seven out of ten
places visited.
Johnsburgh Circuit
Wesleyan
Evangelistic services
R2
11-23 April
1894
Pirie Street
(11-23April)
Ten days
28 April-3
May 1894
Kent Town
Six days
390 converts
9-18 May
1894
Moonta
Six days
278 converts. The
Wesleyan Minister at
Moonta Mines, the Rev. A.
P. Burgess reported 789
conversions. C.W. & M.J.
6 July 1894, 6.
Four weeks
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Schafer
past few weeks’.
Invitation –
Misses H. and
A. McLennan
Invitation –
Misses Green
and Nesbit
Invitation – the
Rev. Thomas
Cook
‘Between seventy and
eighty persons have
professed conversion’.
‘Over fifty having
professed to have found the
Saviour’.
460 converts
20-25 May
1894
Kadina
Six days
159 converts
27-31 May
1894
Kooringa
Six days
160 converts
3-12 June
1894
Port Pirie
Ten days
330 converts
16-25 June
1894
Broken Hill
Nine days
260 converts
Mr. H.G. Hawkins was
converted at Port Pirie
when 16 years old. He later
became a prominent
member of the Methodist
Church, lay preacher, and
365
Other Effects
Reference
‘Seven Christian Endeavour
Societies have been formed’.
280
Christian Endeavour Societies
started at Peak Vale and
Coomooroo.
The terminologies ‘converts’
and ‘entered the enquiry room’
are both used in the reporting.
‘Convert’ is used as this was
the term used by Cook on his
departure. See South
Australian Register, 28 June
1894, 7.
281
Total conversions reported are
2307.
Broken Hill Wesleyan
Quarterly Meeting of 28
December 1894 reported
membership of 303 – increase
of 66 for the Quarter.
Port Pirie Quarterly Meeting of
December 1894 reported a
membership of 206, with 166
on trial.
Pirie Street Quarterly Meeting
of 2 January 1895 reported a
membership of 740 with 100
on trial.
282
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
YMCA
Evangelistic mission
R2
31 MayAugust 1894
Adelaide and suburbs
Nine weeks
Wesleyan
Evangelistic mission
R2
July-August
1894
Unley Circuit
Three weeks
Bible Christian
Revival services – Lady
Evangelist
R2
July-August
1894
Clarendon and
Willunga
‘Few weeks’
Invitation – the
Rev. John
MacNeil.
Evangelist for
the Presbyterian
Church of
Victoria.
Local preachers
and Circuit
minister
Invitation –
Miss Ashendon
Bible Christian and
Wesleyan
Evangelistic mission –
Rodney (Gipsy) Smith
R2
27 May-29
June 1894
Four weeks
Invitation –
Rodney (Gipsy)
Smith
Wesleyan
Evangelistic work –
Lady Evangelists
R2
MayDecember
1894
Franklin Street Bible
Christian Church and
Archer Street
Wesleyan Church.
Northern Tour – South
Australia
Eight months
Wesleyan
Revival
R2 or R3
1894
Yankalilla
Wesleyan
Evangelistic work –
Lady Evangelists
R2
26-31 May
1895
Bible Christian
Revival services – Lady
R2
August 1895
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Reference
Limited information.
Wesleyans recorded a total
of 175 at missions
conducted at Payneham
(55) and Norwood (120) in
July-August 1894
MacNeil convened a
Convention ‘for the deepening
of the spiritual life’ from 18-22
June 1894.
283
Fifty converts
Decided to form a Christian
Endeavour Society
284
‘About 22 persons
confessed to have been
converted’.
Four hundred and sixty
persons ‘passed through the
enquiry rooms’.
‘A considerable number will
join the Wesleyan Church’.
285
Invitation –
Misses Green
and Nesbit
Total reported number of
conversions cited is 409.
This includes probably the
figures at References 276
(32 converts), 277 (50),
281 (50).
Locations visited with
conversions included:
Laura Circuit (35).
Redhill (45).
Mundoorah (9).
Clare Circuit (45 adults and 35
children).
Kapunda and District (56).
Terowie (‘only a few cases of
conversion’).
Unknown
Unknown
Jamestown
One week
Mount Lofty Circuit
Unknown
Invitation –
Misses Green
and Nesbit
Invitation –
‘The greatest revival in the
history of the Circuit’ took
place during the ministry of
the Rev. C. Tresise.
‘Many new converts
testified to their acceptance
of the Saviour’.
‘We have had several
MLC 1933-39.
366
286
287
288
‘Quickening grace received
during the mission’.
289
‘After Miss Catchlove left the
290
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Evangelist
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Miss Catchlove
conversions in many of the
places in the circuit. Forest
Road and Piccadilly are
wonderfully revived’.
‘Over 100 have professed
conversion in the circuit’.
circuit the minister and local
men carried on special services
with pleasing results’.
Bible Christian
Revival services – Lady
Evangelist
R2
September
1895
Wirrabara Circuit
Seven weeks
Invitation –
Miss Catchlove
Bible Christian
Revival services – Lady
Evangelist
R2
October 1895
Goodwood Circuit
Four weeks
Invitation –
Miss Catchlove
About 60 conversions.
Bible Christian
Evangelistic services –
Lady Evangelist
R2
April-May
1896
Crystal Brook Circuit
Six weeks
Invitation –
Miss Catchlove
‘Goodly number of
unbelievers joined the
ranks of the redeemed’.
June-July
1896
Yankalilla Circuit
Six weeks
Miss Catchlove
‘At each place [Yankalilla,
Inman Valley, Dairy Flat,
and Parkfield], there were
decisions for Christ’.
July-August
1896
Port Augusta
Four weeks
Miss Catchlove
‘Several were saved and all
were blessed’.
August 1896
Port Germein
One week
Miss Catchlove
Sixteen converts
SeptemberOctober 1896
Kadina Circuit
Four weeks
Miss Catchlove
Thirteen converts
R2
January 1897
One week
July 1897
Invitation –
Miss Catchlove
Invitation –
Miss Ashenden
Twenty conversions
R2
Port Germein Circuit Baroota
Goodwood Circuit
Bible Christian
Bible Christian
Evangelistic services –
Lady Evangelist
Evangelistic services –
Lady Evangelist
Three weeks
367
Twenty conversions in
addition to some Sunday
‘Strong Endeavour Societies
have been already formed at
Wirrabara, Murray Town, and
Booleroo Centre, and we are
hoping to start one also at
Pekina’.
Means for follow up include a
new Endeavour Society at
Sturt, and attaching young
people to existing societies.
Miss Ashenden held a mission
in the Willunga and Kulpara
Circuits.
Reference
291
292
293
Christian Endeavour Society
formed
Christian Endeavour Society
formed
294
295
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Reference
school scholars.
August 1897
Snowtown Circuit
Two weeks
Miss Ashenden
Nine conversions
Circuit
preachers and
Miss Ellis
(Angas
College).
Missioners –
Mr. R. Barrett
and sons (2),
and the Rev. G.
Hall.
Circuit resources
‘About thirty young people
have decided for Christ’.
296
‘There have been many
cases of conversion’.
297
United Methodist
Church
Special evangelistic
services
R2
June-July
1899
Auburn
Two weeks
Wesleyan
Mission services
R2
July 1899
Coromandel Valley
Two weeks
Wesleyan
‘Work of God prospers’
R2
July 1899
Broken Hill
Unknown
Wesleyan
Home mission services
R2
July 1899
Strathalbyn Circuit –
Queen’s Own Church
(Lower Finniss).
Three days
Circuit Minister
– the Rev. A. D.
Bennett
30 July 1899
Strathalbyn Circuit –
Sandergrove.
Afternoon
Service
The Rev.
Bennett
Led by
Missionary
Students of
Angas College
Invitation to
conduct mission.
Ordinary service
Wesleyan
Revival services
R2
July 1899
Melbourne Street –
North Adelaide
Unknown
Wesleyan
Evangelistic mission
R2
July 1899
Coromandel Valley
Unknown
368
Christian Endeavor Society
formed.
Silverton (21 July) – four
conversions.
Sulphide Street (16 July) –
‘several sought salvation’.
On 23 July – four adults
came forward as seekers.
Fifteen conversions. For
the last thirty years the
membership has stood at
four.
‘The workers are encouraged,
and all are hoping and praying
for a still greater outpouring of
the spirit’.
298
‘There are signs of the Holy
Spirit’s workings in other
places’.
299
‘Seven persons yielded
themselves to God’. No
prior members – ‘weakest
place in the Strathalbyn
Circuit’.
‘Many have come forward
desiring to follow Christ’.
‘The work is quiet and without
excitement’.
300
‘The power of the Holy Spirit
has been greatly manifested’.
301
Fifty conversions
Christian Endeavor Society
formed. Societies at
Blackwood and Cherry
302
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Wesleyan
Evangelistic mission
R2
July 1899
Auburn Circuit –
Auburn and Watervale
Four weeks
Invitation –
Misses Ellis and
Robertson –
Angas College
About fifty conversions
Wesleyan
Evangelistic mission
R2
10-17 August
1899
Ardrossan Circuit
One week
Twenty-six conversions
Wesleyan
Evangelistic mission
R2
6-11 August
Lake Wangary
One week
YMCA
Evangelistic mission
R2
AugustSeptember
and
November
1899.
Adelaide, Petersburgh,
Broken Hill, Port
Adelaide, Gawler.
Five weeks
Invitation – Mr.
J. Delehanty and
Sister G. E.
Kemp
Conducted by
the Rev. F.
Davis and the
Rev. Fletcher
Invitation – the
Rev. C H.
Yatman
Wesleyan
Gospel mission
R2
Clarendon
Three weeks
Circuit resources
Wesleyan
Special services
R2
AugustSeptember
1899
Third Quarter
1899
Port Lincoln
Unknown
Circuit decision
Wesleyan
Evangelistic mission –
Barrett Brothers (S.R. &
J.W. Barrett)
Religious Awakening Revival
R2
Third Quarter
1899
Clarendon
Unknown
Circuit decision
R2
22 July-6
August 1900
Parkside
Two weeks
Special services
Evangelistic Services
R2
Third Quarter
1900
Wallaroo Mines
Six weeks
Special services
Other Effects
Reference
Gardens strengthened.
Methodist
Methodist
369
‘This is the best “shaking up”
that Watervale has had for
years, and will result we are
sure in an improved condition
in the Church there’.
For several weeks prior to the
mission, ‘a gracious influence
of God’s Holy Spirit has rested
upon the people’.
‘Christian Endeavor Society
formed’.
303
Figures for the Adelaide
Mission – 926 covenantcards signed. Gawler – 150
cards. This represents onequarter of the total
Australian figure.
Fifty conversions
18 August-4 September 1899
(Adelaide).
5-6 September (Petersburgh
and Broken Hill). 10-20
November 1899 (Port Adelaide
and Gawler).
306
‘An increase of twentynine new members was
reported’. Over six months
the figure was forty-six.
Mission conducted by the
Barrett Brothers resulted in
‘many conversions’.
‘Altogether upward of 70
or 80 have given
themselves to God’.
‘A dozen unbelievers
joined the ranks of the
redeemed’.
Reported at Port Lincoln
Wesleyan Quarterly Meeting of
21 September 1899.
308
Also resulted in a ‘deepening
of interest in the institutions of
the church’.
309
‘Nine young converts’.
304
305
307
310
311
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Methodist
Evangelistic Mission –
Barrett Brothers
Revival
R2
June or July
1901
November
1901
Minlanton
Unknown
Special services
Up to thirty-five converts
312
Quorn Circuit Willochra
Special services
‘Ten persons decided for
Christ, ranging from 16
years of age to 60’.
313
Methodist
Evangelistic Mission –
Barrett Brothers
R2
March 1902
Yacka
One week –
preceded by a
‘spirit of
enquiry’.
One week
Evangelistic
services
‘Twenty young men and
women decided for Christ’.
NonDenominational
Simultaneous Mission –
W.E. Geil (American
Evangelist)
R2
8-20 June
1902
Adelaide and Port
Adelaide
Two weeks
Invitation from
Combined
Organising
Committee
Methodist
‘A gracious work’
R2
June-July
1902
Port Adelaide
Unknown
Work among
Sunday school
scholars
A meeting of converts at
the Pirie Street Methodist
Church on 30 June 1902,
was attended by ‘a large
congregation, composed
mainly of those who had
professed conversion’.
‘A large number have
yielded themselves to
Christ’.
Methodist
Evangelistic mission –
Barrett Brothers
Evangelistic mission –
Barrett Brothers
R2
July 1902
Two weeks
R2
April-May
1902
Port Pirie Circuit Wandearah
Auburn and Mintaro
Evangelistic
Services
Evangelistic
Services
Simultaneous mission
R2
August 1902
Gumeracha
Revival
R2
AugustSeptember
1902.
Mount Gambier
Two weeks.
Two months of
preparation.
Two weeks.
Weeks of
preparation
Methodist
Methodist
United Services
(Methodist and
Baptist)
United Services
(Methodist,
Presbyterian,
R2
Auburn – Three
weeks. Mintaro
– Two weeks
370
Special services
Mission services
‘Thirty-seven have yielded
themselves to Christ’.
Auburn – ‘Fifty-seven
young people professed
conversion to Christ.
Mintaro – ‘Thirty-three
were won for Christ’.
At least seventy persons
professed conversion.
‘On every evening there
were decisions for Christ’.
Other Effects
Reference
Fifty Sunday school scholars
desirous of becoming
Christians.
A number of ministers
representing various churches
agreed to commence weekly
united evangelistic services
after church hours on Sundays.
314
Twenty-nine, mainly elder
scholars of the Sunday School
admitted into membership.
Similar work was reported at
Unley (twenty-three new
members), and Woodville
(thirteen).
316
315
317
Conversions continued after
the mission closed. Twentyseven were recorded up to
August 1902.
318
319
‘The deepest interest was
manifested throughout the
neighbourhood. A great
320
Denomination
Baptist, Salvation
Army).
Methodist
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Other Effects
‘Between 80 and 90 souls
won for the Master’.
‘An ingathering of over
forty souls, while scores
are under deep conviction’.
religious awakening has taken
place’.
Conducted by Mr. and Mrs.
Clark from India
‘The Christian Endeavor
Society at Moonta Mines is
increasing in numbers and
enthusiasm, while at other
places they are being formed’.
beforehand.
Gospel mission
R2
October 1902
Three weeks
Mission services
May 1903
Melbourne Street,
North Adelaide
Moonta Circuit
Methodist
‘A powerful work of
divine grace’.
R2
One month
Regular Sunday
evening services
Methodist
Evangelistic mission –
Dr. W.G. Torr
R2
July 1903
Broken Hill
Two weeks
Invitation
Methodist
Evangelistic mission –
Dr. W.G. Torr
R2
11-19 July
1903
Willunga
One week
Invitation
Methodist
Mission services
R2
March 1904
Clare Circuit - Stanley
About one to
two weeks
Mission services
followed the
Sunday School
Anniversary
Methodist Baptist
Anglican
Evangelistic mission –
the Rev. W. Lockhart
Morton (Presbyterian)
Revival – This was
probably the United
Mission at Burra in
August 1904 in which
the Protestant Churches
took part.
R2
August 1904
Yorketown
Three weeks
Invitation
R2 or R3
1904
Redruth – Two
meetings. Meetings
were also held in the
Salvation Army
Barracks and
Methodist Church at
Kooringa.
Two to four
weeks
Inter-church
decision
Methodist
Souls Saved
371
‘Forty or fifty decision
cards were brought in for
signature before the
missioner left’.
About 30 Sunday Scholars
scholars (ranging from ten
to twenty, ‘’openly avowed
themselves soldiers of the
King’.
Seventeen converts
‘Between thirty and forty
persons resolved to follow
Christ’.
At least twelve converts. A
larger number offered
themselves ‘for a fuller
consecration to the work of
soul saving’.
James Allen was converted
during the Willunga
Revival of 1851, and
became a Probationer for
Reference
321
322
323
Additional conversions took
place during the mission.
324
‘Stanley is only a small place,
but at present is the centre of
great religious life and activity.
Its influence is widening, the
circle is extending to other
parts of the circuit’.
325
326
Of the Circuit Minister, the
Rev. James Allen it was
reported, ‘the memory of his
saintly, seraphic face, as he
moved among the still
worshippers in the Redruth
Revival of 1904, seeking out
those who might, in his
judgment, need friendly
327
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
the Wesleyan Methodist
ministry in 1862. He died
in 1905.
‘Twenty-two persons
decided for Christ’.
Eighteen admitted on trial.
counsel, will not be soon
forgotten by his fellowlabourers’.
‘The Church was quickened,
and sinners were won for
Christ. House-to-house
visitation and special prayer
meetings formed a good
preface’.
A ‘great revival’ was reported
in the Kooringa Methodist
Church on 1 September 1905.
In late October 1905, revival
services were held’.
‘A manifest deepening of
spiritual life’.
Incidents surrounding a
‘drunkard’s rescue’ led to a
revival.
A quickening and increase to
the church resulted. Unity
amongst Christians in attending
services.
Methodist
Evangelistic M
mission – the Revs. W.F.
James and C.E. Williams
R2
August 1905
Yankalilla and
Normanville
Two weeks
Circuit decision
Methodist
Revival
R2 or R3
August –
October 1905
Kooringa
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown. There was no
report in the Australian
Christian Commonwealth
of this revival.
Methodist
Evangelistic mission –
Dr. W.G. Torr
Revival
R2
April 1906
Goodwood
Ten days
Invitation
R3
Unknown
Unknown
‘A drunkard’s
rescue’.
Evangelistic services –
Messrs. Forsyth (Hope
Lodge Missionary
College) and Willason
R2
October 1906
Circuit in which the
Rev. T.B. Angwin
appointed
Ardrossan Circuit
‘A large number (scores) of
conversions’.
Unknown
Two weeks
Invitation
Twenty-six young people
‘decided’.
Ardrossan Circuit
Eleven weeks
Invitation
Professed conversions
Dowlingville – 14
Petersville – 3
Pine Point – 28
Sandilands – 5
Clinton Centre – 17
Ardrossan – 13
Total – 80.
At the Quarterly Meeting
of 10 July 1907, it was
reported that the circuit
membership had increased
by eighty.
Methodist
Methodist
April-June
1907
372
‘There are now five Endeavour
Societies – before there was
only one. A Sunday School has
been started in one Church as
the result of renewed activity.
Racing, gambling, drinking,
dancing, and other vices have
been left behind, and those who
followed them are now
worshippers with us’.
Reference
328
329
330
331
332
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Methodist
Evangelistic services –
Messrs. Forsyth and
Mursell
R2
November
1906
Maitland Circuit
‘A brief
evangelistic
mission’.
Invitation
Methodist
Evangelistic mission –
Dr. W.G. Torr
Evangelistic mission –
Dr. W.G. Torr
R2
28 March-17
April 1907
18-28 April
1907
Lucindale Circuit
Three weeks
Invitation
Naracoorte
Ten days
Invitation
Urania – 30 converts
Port Victoria – 6.
Maitland – 30.
Sunny Vale – 1.
Nine other conversions.
Total – 76 conversions.
‘About 30 decisions for
Christ were taken’.
‘The number of open
decisions was thirty-seven’.
Methodist
Evangelistic mission –
Messrs Cuttriss and
Millar (Hope Lodge)
R2
May 1907
Meadows
Unknown
Invitation
‘Seventeen souls, nearly all
adults, have decided for
Christ’.
Methodist
Evangelistic mission –
the Rev. G.H. Cole
(Melbourne Central
Methodist Mission –
Boy’s Farm)
Evangelistic mission –
Dr. W.G. Torr
R2
May 1907
West Adelaide Church
One week
Invitation
‘Between thirty and forty
professed conversion’.
R2
April-May
1907
Millicent Circuit –
Lucindale, Naracoorte
Millicent.
Three weeks
Invitation
‘Numerical increases to the
kingdom; 27 adults and 13
children and others are
ready to be brought in’.
Methodist
Evangelistic mission –
Miss Ada Ward
R2
26 May-3
June 1907
One week
Invitation
Few conversions.
Methodist
Evangelistic mission –
the Rev. G.H. Cole
R2
18 May-30
May 1907
Adelaide – Pirie Street
Methodist Church (26
May - 2 June)
Jubilee Exhibition
Building – 3 June
Port Adelaide
Twelve days
Invitation
‘Some 25 professed
conversion, besides the
Methodist
Methodist
R2
373
Other Effects
Reference
333
334
‘A visible deepening of the
spiritual life, and a fixed desire
on the part of many to share in
the joy of soul-winning’.
‘Many others are under very
deep conviction of sin. A
deepened spiritual life has also
been experienced in our
churches’.
335
336
337
‘A genuinely revived Church,
as seen in:
Healing of old quarrels.
Sense of personal
responsibility for Christian
service.
Increased mutual affection’.
Pirie Street Church was full
every night. On Sunday 2 June,
the Church was crowded an
hour before the meeting
commenced.
‘The Churches have been
aroused, and we believe the
338
339
340
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
2 June-12
June 1907
Brompton
Ten days
Invitation
Souls Saved
Other Effects
children [30]’.
result of the mission will be a
deeper spiritual life among all
our people’.
Several conversions.
‘Nearly every night one or
more respond to the earnest
invitation to take a stand
for Christ’.
‘A number of souls have
been saved’.
‘All the services were largely
attended’. The mission is a
‘great blessing in the
quickening of believers and the
salvation of sinners’.
‘It has done the Circuit good’.
The Quarterly Meeting held on
30 September 1907, recorded a
membership increase of 47.
Methodist
Evangelistic mission –
Barrett Brothers
R2
Late May 14 June 1907
Mallala
Two weeks
Invitation
Methodist
Evangelistic mission –
Messrs. Cuttriss and
Millar
Evangelistic Mission –
Barrett Brothers
R2
June-July
1907
Meadows Circuit
‘Past few
weeks’
Invitation
‘Fifty-three decisions for
Christ have taken place’.
R2
16-28 June
1907
Moonta Mines
Two weeks
Invitation
‘Over 200 altogether have
given themselves to the
Lord’.
‘Oh, such a revival. I have
witnessed nothing like it
before. Such a revival has not
been witnessed here since
Thomas Cook’s mission’. This
took place in May 1894.
Barrett Brothers
R2
July 1907
Moonta (Township)
Ten days
Invitation
Evangelistic missions –
Dr. W.G. Torr
R2
7 July 1907
Millicent Circuit –
Tantanoola
Unknown –
probably one
week
Invitation
‘Sinners converted,
backsliders recovered, and
believers quickened’.
‘Twenty signed decision
cards’, the ages ranging
from seven to seventy’.
‘Increased attendance at the
week-night meetings since the
mission closed’.
‘This is probably the first
evangelistic mission ever held
in Tantanoola, and it will long
be remembered’.
21-30 July
1907
Beachport
Ten days
Invitation
Five adult and twenty-one
Sunday school scholars
recorded ‘decisions’.
At the Quarterly Meeting
of 26 June 1907, it was
reported that, ‘the
‘Such an event had never been
heard of in the history of the
town. Our Church has received
an uplift’.
Methodist
Methodist
374
Reference
341
342
343
344
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Reference
membership returns
revealed a decided
increase’.
August 1907
6-16 October
1907
November
Mount Gambier
Two weeks
Invitation
Glenburnie
Unknown
Invitation
Kingston
Ten days
Invitation
Robe
Unknown
Invitation
Cape Jaffa
Kapunda
One meeting
Two weeks
Invitation
Invitation
Evangelistic mission –
Messrs Forsyth and
Willason
Evangelistic mission –
Messrs Barnes and
Chambers
R2
3-14 August
1907
R2
August 1907
Balaklava
Unknown
Invitation
Methodist
Evangelistic mission –
Barrett Brothers
R2
11-25 August
1907
Booleroo Centre
Two weeks
Invitation
Methodist
Evangelistic mission –
Mr. Dingle
R2
August 1907
Two Wells
Unknown
Invitation
Methodist
Evangelistic mission
Services – Messrs.
Cuttriss and Miller
R2
4-18 August
1907
Cherry Gardens
Two weeks
Invitation
Methodist
Baptist
Methodist
375
‘Over 80 decision cards
were signed’.
Two decisions.
‘Several signed the
decision cards’.
‘All the people of the
church who were able to do
so attended the meetings,
and most of them signed
the decision cards’.
Six signed the decision
cards’.
‘Almost one hundred
names have been received
during the mission’.
South Balaklava – ‘nine
decisions’.
Balaklava – ‘Twenty
decisions’.
‘Fifty-six decisions’.
‘We have 63 names and are
still receiving the
droppings of the shower’.
Thirteen conversions
‘Many were led to see the joy
of soul-winning and the greater
joy of resting on the strength
and power of Christ as Saviour
and friend’.
‘Dr. Torr’s mission was a great
blessing to our church’.
345
‘People’s hearts full of
rejoicing’.
346
‘A revival not only is a testing
time for those who are sinners,
but also for the Christians’.
347
348
‘At one meeting 14 persons,
ages ranging from 40 to 17
years, came out, desirious of
receiving the power of the
Holy Ghost’.
349
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Reference
Methodist
Evangelistic mission –
Messrs. C. Hodger of
Laura, and Wm Smith of
Wirrabara.
Evangelistic mission
(Revival) – Barrett
Brothers
R2
September
1907
Tarcowie
One week
Invitation
Five conversions
‘Members and adherents have
been lifted up to a higher plane
of spiritual life’.
350
R2
24 August-7
September
1907
Jamestown
Two weeks
Invitation
Forty two conversions.
Barrett Brothers report to
the Methodist Conference
(Evangelistic Department)
for 1907 indicates that ‘850
persons expressed a serious
and intelligent desire to
receive and follow Christ’.
Twenty missions were
conducted.6
‘A Junior Endeavour is being
formed for the Methodist
children converted’.
351
Evangelistic mission –
Messrs. MacDonald and
Stanton
Evangelistic mission –
Mr. H. Lyons
R2
September
1907
Edithburgh
‘Short mission’
Invitation
Twenty-three conversions
‘A gracious work has taken
place’.
352
R2
Third Quarter
1907
Yankalilla
Unknown
Invitation
‘We are thankful for the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
This is the first large increase
since Methodist Union’.
353
Methodist
Evangelistic mission –
Barrett Brothers
R2
March 1908
Mallala
Three weeks
Invitation
Methodist
Evangelistic mission –
Barrett Brothers
R2
April 1908
Wilmington
Two weeks
Invitation
‘Thirty-nine names have
been added to the roll
during the last five
months’.
Grace Plains and Wild
Horse Plains (two weeks) –
‘many professed
conversion.
Dublin (ten days) – Fifteen
converts (young men and
women).
‘Over forty names were
handed in’.
Methodist
Evangelistic mission –
Barrett Brothers
R2
June 1908
Koolunga Circuit –
Yacka and Gulnare
Two weeks
Invitation
Methodist
Evangelistic mission –
the Rev. D. O’Donnell
R2
Second
Quarter 1908
Glenelg
Extended
period
Invitation
Methodist
Methodist
Methodist
376
‘About seventy names have
been handed to the minister
as those of converts’.
Thirty-five persons were
admitted into Church
354
‘A season of rich blessing’.
Junior and Young People’s CE
Societies formed.
355
356
Mission was followed by
‘Decision Day’ for the Sunday
357
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Methodist
Evangelistic mission –
the Rev. D. O’Donnell
R2
July 1908
Payneham
Two weeks
Invitation
Methodist, Baptist,
Presbyterian,
Salvation Army.
United Gospel Mission –
Rev D. O’Donnell.
R2
July 1908
Jamestown
Two weeks
Invitation
Methodist
Evangelistic mission –
Mr. H.F. Allen
Evangelistic mission –
Dr. W.G. Torr
Evangelistic mission –
Barrett Brothers
R2
October 1908
Millicent
Invitation
R2
April 1909
Edithburgh
‘A brief
mission’.
Unknown
R2
April 1909
Nantawarra
Twelve days
Invitation
Mount Templeton
Unknown
Invitation
Methodist
Methodist
NonDenominational
Methodist
Methodist
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Reference
membership.
School and Church
membership preparatory
classes conducted by the Revs.
I. Rooney and Jacobs.
‘Outsiders’ not attracted.
358
Forty to fifty ‘decisions’
including some rededications. Mostly young
people.
‘A great number of young
people have signified their
decision for the Master’.
‘The joint committee is being
maintained to embrace
opportunities for such united
work as may present
themselves’.
Evangelistic mission –
Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman
and Charles M.
Alexander
Revival
R2
16-26 July
1909
Adelaide
Ten days
Invitation
‘Twelve decisions for the
Lord Jesus’.
‘Altogether there were
thirty-three conversions’.
‘A number of our young
people won for the
Saviour’.
‘Thirteen young men and
women and seven children
won for the Saviour’.
At least 800 converts.
R2
Circuit decision
Twenty-five converts
R2
Kingscote, Kangaroo
Island
St. John’s Wood
(Prospect)
One week
Evangelistic mission –
Sister Lily (Miss
Cowmeadow)
Third Quarter
1909
24 July-7
August 1910
Two weeks
Invitation
Forty converts
Sister Lily assisted by four
students from the Methodist
Training Home at Brighton
established by Dr. W.G. Torr.
August 1910
Yorketown
Two weeks
Invitation
‘Twenty-one decisions’.
Ages varied from fourteen to
forty.
R2
377
Invitation
359
360
361
Christian Endeavour Society
started.
362
363
364
365
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
R2
AugustOctober 1910
Maitland Circuit
(Maitland, Urania,
Arthurton).
Seven weeks
Invitation
No conversions recorded at
Arthurton (first time she had
recorded no converts at the end
of a mission).
‘The gratifying feature of the
spiritual awakening is that it is
the ordinary way of circuit
work. Just the reaping-time
after faithful service on the part
of our own ministers, local
preachers, and Sunday school
teachers’.
‘The whole district has been
stirred’.
‘In Sister Lily the Conference
has an evangelist of the right
type’.
Methodist
Evangelistic mission –
the Revs. W.A. Bainger
and J.H. Pointon (Circuit
Ministers – Stirling
Circuit)
R2
November
1910 –
February
1911
Stirling Circuit –
Mylor, Grunthal,
Scott’s Creek, Upper
Sturt, Ironbank.
Nine weeks
Circuit Decision
Maitland – Eleven ‘decided
for Christ’.
Urania – Seven
conversions.
‘Since the mission started
forty six persons, mostly
adults, including mothers
of families, and several fine
young men, have publicly
confessed the Saviour’.
Methodist
Evangelistic mission –
Sister Lily
R2
16-28 April
1911
Port Broughton Circuit
– Dolling’s Corner
Two weeks
Invitation
‘Forty-three decisions for
Christ’
R2
June 1911
Laura Circuit –
Tarcowie
Two weeks
Invitation
‘Twenty-one decisions
have been registered’
R2
July 1911
Laura Circuit –
Yarrowie
Two weeks
Invitation
‘Eleven made their public
confession and were
received into Church
membership on trial’.
Revival – Sister Lily
R2
July 1911
Laura Circuit – Stone
Hut
Two weeks
Invitation
‘Forty-four decisions’
Revival – Sister Lily
R2
July-August
1911
Laura Circuit – Laura
Two weeks
Invitation
‘Forty-one decisions’
The total for the Laura
Circuit according to the
Circuit Minister (the Rev.
E. Arnold) was 145
conversions over a three
month period.
378
‘On the Sunday following,
thirteen more made their stand
for Christ’.
‘Three decisions at Wirrabara
Forest’.
Since Sister Lily commenced
evangelistic work in August
1910, 250 conversions were
reported.
Reference
366
367
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Evangelistic mission –
Sister Lily
R2
September
1911
Booleroo Centre
Two weeks
Invitation
‘Sixteen decisions’.
Evangelistic mission –
Sister Lily
R2
15-27
October 1911
Mount Torrens
Two weeks
Invitation
‘Thirteen conversions’.
Evangelistic mission –
Sister Lily
R2
29 October10 November
1911
Gumeracha and Mount
Torrens Circuit Tungkillo
Two weeks
Invitation
‘Five decisions’.
Methodist
Sunday school
evangelistic mission –
Mr. Newton Jones
(Evangelist – London
Sunday school union)
R2
29 April-5
May 1911
Moonta Circuit
One week
Invitation
‘The mission has been
fruitful in many decisions
among our young people’.
Methodist
Evangelistic mission –
conducted by Circuit
Minister – the Rev. F.W.
Brasher
Evangelistic mission –
Sister Lily
R2
2-9 July 1911
Mount Bryan
One week
Circuit Decision
‘Sixteen definite decisions
for Christ’.
369
R2
April 1912
Wirrabara Forest
Two weeks
Invitation
‘Four decisions were
registered for Christ’.
370
R2
April-May
1912
Booleroo Whim
Three weeks
Invitation
‘Six young people
decided’.
R2
May 1912
Amyton
Two weeks
Invitation
‘Ten decided for Christ’.
The society has been quickened
and the CE Society re-started’.
R2
June 1912
Port Augusta
Unknown
Invitation
‘Ten young people were
received on probation’.
‘The praying members of our
church have been quickened,
and others have been stirred,
and we believe the above is but
the beginning of a harvest of
souls’.
Methodist
379
Other Effects
Reference
‘On Sunday afternoon between
800 and 900 scholars from the
Sunday schools of the town
and circuit assembled at the
church’.
Evening meetings during the
week.
368
Denomination
Methodist
Event Description
Evangelistic Mission –
Mr. A.E. Cowley
Mission extended by the
Rev. D.T. Reddin.
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
R2
June 1912
Terowie
One week
Invitation
Twenty-two conversions
over five days.
‘We believe that greater and
more glorious results are yet to
follow’.
R2
June 1912
Quorn
One week
Invitation
Twenty-two conversions.
R2
July 1912
Morchard
One week
Invitation
‘Five decisions’.
The Rev. Henry Trewren
(Quorn) reported…’Grand
results, meetings well
sustained, great interest
maintained’.
R2
R2
24 July 1912
April 1912
Willowie
Cross Roads, Moonta
One evening
Estimated at
one week
Invitation
Invitation
‘Ten decisions’.
‘Six conversions’.
Five Sunday School
conversions at Moonta
Bay.
Sixteen adults and eighteen
children decided for Christ
in East Moonta South.
Combined with CE Rally.
‘A great strengthening of the
Church’.
Number of ‘decisions’
attributed to Cowley in the
period Jan-June 1912 was 100.
‘The veterans of the Church
[Clare] say there has not been
such a great awakening here
for twenty years.
May 1912
Mr. A.E. Cowley
Invitation
R2
June 1912
Blyth and Clare
Unknown
Invitation
‘A number of young men
have decided for Christ’.
Last night of mission – four
conversions.
Total conversions for Clare
– 40 (Includes Decision
Sunday Sunday School
scholars - 32).
Total for Blyth – 4 adults
plus 14 Decision Day
scholars.
R2
June 1912
Ardrossan
One week
Invitation
Ten adult conversions.
Four at Dowlingville.
‘Eight young men and
women, with several
children, at Pine Point’.
380
‘The spirit of revival is upon
this place, and I think this
winter will see a great work
done in the circuit’.
Reference
371
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Reference
Methodist
Evangelistic Mission –
Mrs. Murton
R2
April-May
1912
Strathalbyn
Two months
Invitation
Thirty-nine converts.
Mrs. Murton assisted by a
‘band of workers’.
372
R2
2-16 August
1912
Aldinga
Two weeks
Invitation
Preparatory meetings for
Chapman-Alexander
Mission conducted by
the Rev. S. Forsyth.
Evangelistic mission –
Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman
and Charles M.
Alexander
R2
1-7 June
1912
Petersburg
One week
Local Misson
Committee
invited Forsyth.
‘Quite a number have
given themselves to Jesus
Christ’.
Twenty-four conversions.
‘A large combined choir of
young people contributed to
the success of the mission’.
Church members ‘quickened’.
R2
Friday, 7
June 1912
Petersburg
One day
Mission
Organising
Committee Adelaide
Thirty-two converts at
meeting conducted by
Chapman. Three additional
converts at the overflow
meeting conducted by the
Rev. S. Forsyth.
Evangelistic mission –
Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman
and Charles M.
Alexander
R2
19 May-3
July 1912
(South
Australia and
Broken Hill
Mission)
Adelaide (19 May-6
June 1912)
Petersburg (7 June
1912).
Broken Hill (8-17 June
1912).
Port Pirie (18-25 June
1912).
Adelaide (27 June
1912).
Mount Gambier (28
June-2 July 1912).
Bordertown (3 July
1912).
Six weeks and
three days.
Invitation
‘Nearly 2,000 decision
cards were signed by
converts’ in South
Australia and Broken Hill
(New South Wales).
A total of 463 new
members were received
into the Methodist Church
on 14 July 1912. These
included Mission converts
as well as Sunday School
scholars who observed
Decision Sunday.
‘A great spiritual uplift to the
town and churches’.
It was reported at the
Petersburg Methodist Quarterly
Meeting held on 9 July that
there were 31 ‘young men and
women on trial’.
Thirty new members
recognized on 28 July 1912
Of the 2,000 converts the
following sub-totals are
included:
59 – Petersburg.
320 – Broken Hill.
300 – Port Pirie.
300 – Mount Gambier
NonDenominational
NonDenominational
NonDenominational
381
Nightly meetings were held in
the Exhibition Building which
were well attended (4,5006,000 at each of the meetings).
Combined choir of 700 voices.
373
374
375
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Methodist
Evangelistic mission –
the Rev. H.A. Gunter
(Circuit Minister)
Regular service –
Sunday evening 16 June
1912.
R2
June 1912
Cowell
Unknown
Circuit Decision
R2
16 June 1912
Parkside West
One evening
‘Six adult decisions and
twenty Sunday school
scholars at Cowell’.
‘Twenty-five make a
‘public confession of
Christ’.
Methodist
14 July –
Recognition
Service
Fourteen converts (ages 12
to 25) admitted as
members. ‘Four were
converts at the recent
Chapman-Alexander
Mission, one was won to
Christ by his brother, and
seven were converts at our
own recent Church
services’.
‘Twelve decisions’.
Methodist
Evangelistic mission –
Messrs. Smith and
Sullivan.
R2
July 1912
Cummins Mission –
Marble View
One week
Invitation
Churches of Christ
Evangelistic mission –
Dr. Charles Reign
Scoville
R2
4 August-5
September
1912
Adelaide
Five weeks
Invitation –
issued by the
Churches of
Christ
Up until the final night of
the mission there were 924
converts.
Methodist and other
churches.
Evangelistic mission
R2
July-August
1912
Gawler
Three weeks
Invitations to
various
ministers
‘’Some twenty-five
decisions, mostly young
men and women, were
recorded’.
Methodist
Revival
R2 or R3
June-August
1912
Solomontown Circuit
– Napperby
Two months
Unknown
‘Twenty decisions with
more to follow’.
382
Other Effects
Reference
376
Service conducted by Mr. P.H.
Chennell (Circuit Assistant).
377
Other missions conducted on
the Eyre Peninsula in the MayJuly period yield fourteen
converts.
Nightly meetings held in the
Exhibition Building. Choir of
700 voices.
Churches of Christ reported in
September 1912, a net
membership increase of 330. In
1913 it was 823 (largest
recorded to date).
Nine ministers invited to
participate.’The Churches have
also received much blessing,
and are rejoicing in a
quickened faith and deeper
spiritual experience’.
‘The revival at Napperby
manifested itself two months
378
379
380
381
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Broad Creek
Unknown
Unknown
‘We hope for fifteen to
twenty new members at
Broad Creek’.
Seventy persons – for
either first-time decisions
or reconsecrations.
Methodist
Sunday School Decision
Day
R2
28 July 1912
Jamestown
One day
Annual event
Methodist
Evangelistic mission –
Messrs. Skinner and
Magor (Old Boys –
Methodist Training
Home).
Evangelistic missions –
the Rev. G.W. Johnston
(Circuit Minister)
R2
August 1912
Lucindale
Unknown
Invitation
‘Twenty-two decisions’.
R2
August 1912
Unknown
Circuit decision
Twelve decisions
Methodist
Evangelistic mission –
the Rev. J. Shaw (Circuit
Minister)
R2
AugustSeptember
1912
Yankalilla Circuit
- Wattle Flat
- Second Valley
- Parkfield.
Gladstone
Two weeks
Circuit decision
Methodist
Evangelistic missions –
Mr. A.E. Cowley
R2
13-29 July
1913
Wandearah
Two weeks
Invitation
Methodist
Evangelistic mission –
Mr. J.W. Barrett (one of
the Barrett Brothers)
Evangelistic mission –
Mr. W. Gibson (Magill)
and the Revs. H.C. Hill
(Summertown) and G.
Hall (Circuit Minister).
R2
August 1913
Penola
Two weeks
Invitation
‘About a dozen young
people have publicly made
their confession of Christ,
some of whom, however,
had previously signed
decision cards, and were
recognized as junior
members’.
Forty-four conversions.
Most were 18 to 20 years
of age.
‘Twelve decided for Jesus’.
R2
September
1913
Bridgewater
Unknown
Invitation
Methodist
Methodist
383
Eight converts, including
five young men.
Other Effects
ago and still continues’.
‘The work at Broad Creek has
resulted in the re-opening of
the Sunday School.
‘A new Intermediate Society of
Christian Endeavour formed.
The Junior and Young People’s
Societies strengthened’.
The Rev. W. A. Potts from
Mount Gambier assisted on
two nights.
Reference
382
383
384
‘An earnest and reverent spirit
has pervaded the meetings, and
a most genuine revival has
been experienced by old church
members’.
385
‘A vigorous CE Society has
been formed’.
386
387
388
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Reference
Methodist
Normal Circuit Work
McLaren Flat Circuit
Six months
Special efforts
389
R2
Balaklava Circuit
Three weeks
Circuit decision
Methodist
Evangelistic mission –
the Rev. G.W. Kendrew
(Circuit Minister) and
local preachers
R2
28 June-12
July 1914
Willunga Circuit –
McLaren Flat
Two weeks
Circuit decision
NonDenominational
United Christian Mission
– the Rev. Lionel B.
Fletcher was the
Missioner.
United Christian Mission
– the Rev. Lionel B.
Fletcher was the
Missioner.
United Christian Mission
– the Revs. Lionel B.
Fletcher and W.H. Cann
United Christian Mission
– the Rev. Lionel B.
Fletcher. Assisted by Mr.
Clem Hosking (soloist).
R2
June 1915
Wallaroo
Unknown
Inter-church
decision
R2
27 June-9
July 1915
Kadina
Two weeks
Inter-church
decision
R2
July 1915
Wallaroo Mines
Unknown
Inter-church
decision
R2
July-August
1915
Jamestown
Unknown
Inter-church
decision
Between fifty and sixty
conversions
‘Fifteen names were added
to the Balaklava Roll’.
Owen – Nine commitments
on Decision Sunday.
Eighteen added to the Roll.
Fifteen conversions at end
of first week. At the end of
the mission – ‘With only a
few exceptions all
expressed their
determination to be on the
Lord’s side’.
One hundred and thirty
converts. Fifty of whom
joined the Methodist
Church.
Converts – 235. One
hundred and eighty-four
joined the Methodist
Church.
Converts – 131 of whom
112 were received into the
Methodist Church.
Converts – 67 of whom 36
‘have signified their wish
to unite with the Methodist
Church’.
Circuit Ministers – the Revs.
G.W. Kendrew and A.J. Finch
Evangelistic mission –
the Rev. F. Bullock
(Circuit Minister)
January-July
1914
June 1914
Methodist
Evangelistic mission –
the Revs. H.R. Lee, D.
McDiarmid, D.J.
R2
August 1915
Gumeracha
Unknown
Circuit decision
NonDenominational
NonDenominational
NonDenominational Baptist,
Presbyterian,
Methodist.
Methodist
384
‘Sixteen decision cards
were signed, being twelve
new decisions and four re-
390
‘Two direct results of the
mission are, first, the formation
of a large Christian Endeavour
Society, and, second, other
churches in the circuit wish to
have missions conducted as
soon as possible’.
‘Hundreds have been blessed
and strengthened in the
Christian life’.
391
‘We are thankful to God for the
awakening’.
393
392
394
‘Members of all the churches
have had their hearts strangely
warmed. A united prayer
meeting is being held each
week, and additional meetings
for prayer and Bible study have
been organized in all three
churches’.
‘As a result of the mission we
hope to get a good CE Society
at work in the church’.
395
396
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Wellington.
Souls Saved
consecrations. Most of
these are young men and
women’.
‘Eighty-one decisions’.
200 re-consecrations.
NonDenominational –
Baptist,
Presbyterian,
Methodist.
NonDenominational
United Christian Mission
– the Rev. Lionel B.
Fletcher. Assisted by Mr.
Clem Hosking (soloist).
R2
1-12 August
1915
Clare
Twelve days
Inter-church
decision
United Christian Mission
– the Rev. Lionel B.
Fletcher and Clem
Hosking (soloist).
R2
SeptemberOctober 1915
Port Pirie
Three weeks
Inter-church
decision
Non Denominational
United Christian Mission
–the Rev. Lionel B.
Fletcher
R2
17-31
October 1915
Moonta
Fifteen days
Inter-church
decision
NonDenominational –
Methodist
Congregational.
NonDenominational
- Baptist
Methodist
NonDenominational –
Baptist,
Presbyterian,
Churches of Christ,
Church of England,
Methodist
United Christian Mission
– the Rev. Lionel B.
Fletcher
R2
31 October-5
November
1915
Maitland
Six days
Inter-church
decision
Evangelistic mission –
the Rev. D. McDiarmid
R2
November
1915
Gumeracha
Two weeks
(One week in
each church)
Inter-church
decision
Twelve (young people)
converts for each church.
United Christian Mission
– the Rev. Lionel B.
Fletcher and Mr. Clem
Hosking
R2
21
November-3
December
1915
Naracoorte
Two weeks
Inter-church
decision
‘In all about sixty came
forward to confess their
faith’.
Total Conversions recorded
for the United Christian
Missions led by the Rev.
Lionel B. Fletcher in the
period July to December
1915 per ACC record is
1217.
385
‘Altogether 105 signed the
decision cards, almost half
of whom find their spiritual
home in the Methodist
Churches’.
‘The total for the fifteen
days is 335 souls. Of these
313 are Methodists, 178 of
whom are in the Moonta
Mines Church’.
Seventy-three converts
(including eighteen from
the Point Pearce Mission)
Other Effects
Reference
‘Our earnest desire is to
continue the work, and
missions will be held
throughout the district’.
397
‘A pleasing feature of the
meetings was the co-operation
and unity of the ministers of
Port Pirie’.
398
399
400
401
‘The whole town has been
talking of the meetings’.
Not mentioned in the ACC
record are missions undertaken
by Fletcher at Georgetown,
Adelaide (2), Gawler River,
Frances, Mount Gambier, and
Bordertown. With these
inclusions the total figure is
1,318.
402
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Fletcher left South Australia in
January 1916 to accept an
appointment at the Wood Street
Congregational Church,
Cardiff, Wales.
Young men’s class increased
from four to twenty-four in six
weeks.
Gymnasium and club formed.
‘The object of the club is to get
young men to develop a better
type of manhood’.
‘One pleasing feature was the
way some of last year’s
converts worked and led others
to the Saviour’.
Methodist
‘Grand Revival’
R2
June-July
1916
Broken Hill – Central
Street
Two weeks
Circuit decision
– own resources
‘Many souls were saved
from ultimate destruction’.
Methodist
Evangelistic Mission –
Circuit Minister assisted
by the Revs. S. Forsyth
and T.P. Willason
Evangelistic mission –
the Rev. H.S. Atkin
(Mannum Circuit).
Campaign for Deepening
of the Spiritual Life –
Local Preachers
Association (LPA)
R2
July-August
1916
Clare
Two weeks
Circuit decision
Twenty ‘decided’ during
the fortnight.
R2
August 1917
Murray Bridge
Unknown
Circuit Decision
‘A number of decisions
were registered’.
R2
24-25 August
1918
Norwood
Weekend
Invitation – LPA
Nine conversions. Others
sought a “fuller blessing”.
Meetings continued throughout
the week.
31 August-2
September
1918
Norwood – East
Parade Payneham
Road Wesley Church.
Three days
Invitation – LPA
Twenty four converts were
received into membership in
October 1918.
Approx.
September
1918
Semaphore
Weekend
Invitation – LPA
Twenty-seven conversions.
‘Several went forward
seeking the larger
blessing’.
Approximately forty
conversions
August 1918
Cleve
Unknown
Invitation – J.
Delehanty
November
1918
Port Wakefield
Unknown
Invitation – J.
Delehanty
Methodist
Methodist
Methodist
Evangelistic missions –
Mr. J. Delehanty
(Chapman Alexander
Bible Institute)
R2
386
Twenty-eight converts
from the mission. ‘Two
others have decided since
then’.
‘Several young people
accepted Christ as their
Reference
403
404
405
On 17 November 1918, forty
persons were received into
membership. Most were
converted during the LPA
Mission
‘A large number also came out
for full consecration’.
‘A Bible class for young men
and women is to be started’.
Plan to start a Junior
406
407
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Methodist
Evangelistic mission –
the Rev. D.T. Reddin
(Conference Evangelist)
R2
July 1919
Laura Circuit – Stone
Hut
Unknown
Invitation
R2
August 1919
Minlanton
Ten days
Invitation
R2
7-14
September
1919
Terowie
Seven days
Invitation
‘Twenty-two adults and
children signed decision
cards’.
‘Twelve decisions ranging
from the ages fifteen to
forty’.
Evangelistic missions –
the Rev. D.T. Reddin
(Conference Evangelist)
Other Effects
Saviour’.
Endeavour Society.
‘Twenty-six decisions were
recorded’.
The Rev. D.T. Reddin
appointed Conference
Evangelist in 1919.
R2
19-26
October 1919
Gladstone
Eight days
Invitation
‘The decisions recorded are
twelve adults and forty-five
juniors’.
R2
9-16
November
1919
16-30
November
1919
8-15
February
1920
Payneham – Argent
Street
One week
Invitation
‘Thirty-two decisions for
Christ were registered’.
Port Broughton
Two weeks
Invitation
Johnburg and
Carrieton Circuit –
Eurelia
One week
Invitation
‘Eleven adult decisions and
twenty two young people
signed decision cards’.
‘Sixteen decisions’.
R2
14-24 March
1920
Naracoorte
Ten days
Invitation
R2
April 1920
Berri – Billy Goat Flat
Unknown
Invitation
R2
25 April-4
May 1920
Renmark
Ten days
Invitation
R2
Methodist
Souls Saved
R2
387
‘Eight public confessions
of faith’.
‘Seven re-consecrations’.
‘Seven adults and forty
young people declared for
Christ’.
‘Altogether eighteen adults
and twenty Sunday school
scholars took their stand
for Christ’.
Reference
408
The mission was coupled with
addresses on the deepening of
the spiritual life.
The ‘church has had a spiritual
uplift, for which we thank God
and take courage’.
‘Many church members
received much inspiration and
blessing’.
Extensive visitation and openair meeting held.
‘Twenty professing Christians
came out for deeper
consecration and greater
spiritual power’.
409
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
R2
9 May-18
July 1920
Broken Hill
Nine weeks
Invitation
R2
September
1920
Mallala
Two weeks
Invitation
74 adult and 160 Sunday
school conversions.
31 adult and 140 Sunday
school re-consecrations.
134 conversions.
Kadina
Four years
Commenced by
M. M.
Champion.
‘Conversion of many
souls’.
R2
Four years
continuous
work and
ongoing
January 1921
Magill Baptist Church
One week
Invitation
R2
June 1921
Millicent
Ten days
Invitation
R2
June 1921
Woodville Circuit –
Elgin
Ten days
Invitation
‘The total decisions
numbered forty-five, all of
them young people’.
‘There were several
genuine conversions and a
large number of enquirers’.
‘About eighteen souls were
brought into the Kingdom,
and among these were
some very promising
young people’.
At a public recognition
service held in July, 18
new members were
received, 10 awaiting
membership, with 35 junior
members.
R2
7-31 August
Maitland Circuit
Three weeks
Invitation
Methodist
Gospel Band
R2
Baptist
Evangelistic mission –
the Rev. D.T. Reddin
Methodist
Evangelistic mission –
the Rev. H.F. Lyons
(Conference Evangelist)
388
Twenty conversions
Other Effects
Reference
Of the mission one said,
‘Nothing like it for thirty
years’.
During 1920 the Conference
Evangelist recorded 286 adult
and 619 children’s conversions
(17 missions). The total figure
was revised to 1,073
conversions in February 1921.
Work consisted of ‘Cottage
Prayer Meetings’ and Open-air
meetings in and around the
mines.
410
411
The Rev. H.F. Lyons was
appointed Conference
Evangelist in 1921.
‘The chief result was the
deepening of the spiritual life
of the Church among its
members and officers’.
‘We are filled with new life
412
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
1921
Methodist
Evangelistic mission –
the Rev. H.F. Lyons
(Conference Evangelist)
Other Effects
Reference
and zeal and faith’.
R2
4-14
September
1921
Kadina
Ten days
Invitation
‘It was very gratifying to
see a number of our young
people take a definite stand
for Jesus Christ’.
R2
October 1921
Hallett and Mount
Bryan
Two weeks
Invitation
‘Several were led to
Christ’.
R2
October 1921
Brighton
One week
Invitation
‘Several young people
accepted and confessed
Jesus Christ as their
Saviour’.
R2
19
November-3
December
1921
Minlanton
Two weeks
Invitation
R2
Commenced
22 January
1922
Cleve
Unknown
Invitation
‘It was not until the
following Sunday evening
(27 November 1921) that
the stream of converts
started’.
‘Precious souls yielded to
the Divine entreaty and
publicly accepted Him as
their Saviour’.
R2
7-14May
1922
Waikerie
One week
Invitation
Eleven ‘decisions’.
Ten reconsecrations.
R2
28 May-6
June 1922
Stansbury
Ten days
Invitation
‘In all over thirty people
made their decision for
Jesus Christ during the
Mission, most of them
being young people
between the ages of fifteen
389
‘If the atmosphere is right the
results are assured. There can
be no revival without a revived
Church’.
‘The missioner spoke of the
fine spiritual atmosphere of the
Church, and therefore found it
difficult to understand the
absence of the non-Church
members’.
‘Many have been led, as a
result of the mission, to renew
their covenant with a covenantkeeping God’.
‘Wherever one moves among
the people of Stansbury now
there are to be found traces of
the uplifting experience of
those few days’.
413
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Reference
and twenty-five’.
R2
16-23 July
1922
Wallaroo Mines
One week
Invitation
Forty – ‘full consecration’.
Twenty-one children
between nine and thirteen
signed decision cards.
Sixteen adults over fifteen
converted.
‘We are not able to report
big crowds, and a long list
of converts, but there is a
general feeling that the
Church’s work is being
consolidated, and the
spiritual life intensified’.
Nine hundred people per
meeting (Cathedral)
received prayers for
healing.
‘Confession’ – 478.
Methodist
Evangelistic Crusade –
Simultaneous Mission
R2
10 JuneAugust 1923
Adelaide City and
Country locations
Two months
Conference
decision
Anglican
Healing mission – Mr.
J.M. Hickson
R2
1-14 July
1923
Adelaide
Port Pirie
Broken Hill
Two weeks
Invitation
Churches of Christ
Evangelistic mission –
Dr. Jesse R. Kellems and
Mr. Charles M. Richards
R2
28 October24 November
1923
Adelaide
Four weeks
Invitation
Evangelisation
Society of South
Australia
Evangelistic mission –
the Rev. Dr. W.E.
Biederwolf and Mr. H.
Rodeheaver
Evangelistic Crusade –
Simultaneous Mission
R2
24 February3 March 1924
Adelaide
Nine days
Invitation
267 ‘decisions’.
213 re-consecrations’.
R2
August 1924
Brompton
One week
Regular circuit work
R2
Third Quarter
1925
Mount Gambier
One Quarter
Conference
Decision –
Brompton
mission part of
Crusade.
Circuit Decision
Methodist
Methodist
390
‘A very successful mission’.
‘There is great joy in the
Church’.
The crusade consisted of a
series four simultaneous
missions conducted in various
parts of the city to run for at
least ten days each. Twentytwo centres included.
414
‘About 6,000 sufferers sought
relief’.
415
Over 300 had been baptised by
full immersion by 23
November.
Crowds of 3,000 were present
on a regular basis at the
Exhibition Building, led by a
300 person choir.
Biederwolf – Speaker.
Rodeheaver – Song Leader.
416
Eleven adult ‘decisions’.
‘It is estimated that from 80
to 100 children made the
great decision’.
State wide Crusade similar to
1923 was undertaken in 1924.
418
‘Seventeen people have
recently come boldly to the
‘A cheering report was given
[Quarterly Meeting held on 7
419
417
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
front to confess their faith
in Jesus Christ’.
October 1925], of the work of
the Spirit in the circuit’. The
Rev. S. Forsyth was the
Superintendent Minister.
During the Australian
Campaign, over 80,000
Decision Cards were signed
and handed in.
Register, 3 August 1926, 15.
‘We are sure that much good
has been done. Many of our
members have been stimulated
and cheered, and a number
have reconsecrated themselves
to God and the Church’.
Mr. S.H. Lovell (Churches of
Christ – Song Leader).
One result of the mission is
that a congregation which has
probably never had a regular
week-night meeting will now
have an Endeavour Society at
least thirty strong, meeting
every week’.
Mission included house-tohouse visitation, nightly
meetings, and day visits to
Railway gangs.
Combined
Churches
Evangelistic mission –
Gipsy Smith
R2
9-24 May
1926
Adelaide
Fifteen days
Gipsy Smith
Commonwealth
Evangelistic
Campaign
Methodist
Spiritual Convention –
the Rev. S. Carroll
Myers and Mr. E.E.
Mitchell
R2
19-27 June
1926
Burra
Eight days
Circuit Decision
Kooringa (27) and Redruth
(23) Sunday School
scholars, aged 12 to 18
‘gave themselves to God’.
Methodist
Anglican
Revival
Missioners – the Rev. E.
Miller (Evangelist and
Circuit Minister). The
Rev. S.J. Kirby
(Anglican – Bush
Church Aid Society)
R2
20 JuneAugust 1926
Ceduna – Eyre
Peninsula
Two months
Circuit Decision
At least seventy-five
conversions – majority
were Anglican.
Methodist
Evangelistic Crusade –
the Rev. Walter
Wiltshire (Circuit
Minister – Wallaroo
Mines)
Evangelistic mission –
the Rev. C.W. Smith
(Maitland Circuit)
Evangelistic missions –
Circuit Minister
R2
August 1926
Lochiel
Unknown
Arranged at
Moonta
Ministers’
Retreat
Two ‘souls were added to
the Lord’.
R2
August 1926
Nantawarra
Unknown
Circuit decision
‘Twenty converts and four
re-consecrations’.
R2
1926
Summertown
Unknown –
probably over
an extended
period.
Circuit decision
Seventy conversions
Methodist
Methodist
391
‘It was indeed a wonderful
season, and our hearts are
devoutly thankful to God’.
Bible Class, three CE societies,
and three Bands of Hope
formed. ‘A different spirit is in
the community. They now have
heart to tackle anything in
Reference
420
421
422
423
424
425
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Methodist
Evangelistic mission –
the Rev. Edgar Miller
R2
February
1928
Bordertown Circuit –
Wolseley and
Mundalla
Three weeks
Invitation
Thirty conversions
Methodist
Church Anniversary –
members of LPA invited
to lead services.
Methodist Crusade – the
Rev. Norman Dunning
and fifty Methodist
ministers as ‘Crusaders’.
R2
April 1928
Spalding
Two days
Invitation
Six conversions
R2
21 April-3
July 1928
Kent Town 21-30
April.
Pirie Street 5-14 May.
Port Pirie 19-28 May.
Broken Hill 9-18 June.
Adelaide (Fifty
Methodist Churches)
23 June-2 July.
Ten weeks
Conference
decision and
Invitation
‘Hundreds of decisions
reported’.
Methodist
Evangelistic Mission –
the Rev. H.F. Lyons
(Missioner)
R2
August 1928
Edithburgh
Two weeks
Invitation
Methodist
Spiritual Advance
Crusade – the Rev. Dr.
William Shaw
(Supernumerary
Methodist Minister)
R2
May-October
1929
Six months
Conference
decision and
Invitation
Not recorded. Occasional
references to ‘several
souls’ drawn into the
Kingdom.
Methodist
Spiritual Advance
Crusade – the Rev. Dr.
Thirty four Circuits
including Broken Hill,
Port Pirie,
Crystal Brook
Moonta, Minlanton,
Kapunda
Adelaide and Country
Eight months
Conference
decision and
Conducted 306 services
and meetings in Adelaide
Methodist
AprilOctober 1930
392
The aims of the Crusade
were:
* To deepen the spiritual
life.
* To bring young people to
Christ.
* Arrest the minds of the
irreligious.
‘During the second week
the old church was packed
to the doors, and on one
night seven publicly
confessed Christ’.
Other Effects
reason. Increase in conversions
has been followed by increase
in contributions’.
The mission was the
culmination of ‘steady work’
during the year. The
Evangelisation Society of S.A.
had conducted a mission
twelve months before.
Reference
426
427
Crusade meetings continued in
Methodist Churches until the
end of 1928.
‘Much interest has been
awakened. Methodist ministers
in the city have expressed the
conviction that the work has
been of solid and lasting
character’.
428
‘The church has many new
members’.
‘We have started a fellowship
meeting every week, and it
promises to have an attendance
of forty or more regularly’.
Emphasis on deepening the
spiritual life and the doctrine of
Christian Perfection. He
exercised a ‘teaching
evangelism’.
429
Included a united Church
mission (Methodist, Baptist,
431
430
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Invitation
and the country.
Six weeks
Invitation
Sixty-four cases of
conversion.
Two weeks
Invitation
‘No conversions recorded’.
A number of ‘rededications’.
Few conversions recorded.
Eight days
Conference
decision and
Invitation
Circuit Decision
Presbyterian, Congregational)
in the St. Peters district of
Adelaide.
‘Weekly prayer meetings
during a period of twelve
months, had been held in
preparation’.
Homes visited – 170.
Aims of the Crusade:
* To deepen the spiritual life.
* To attract non-churchgoers.
* To lift the moral tone of the
town.
‘The spirit of unity among the
churches has been remarkably
intensified’.
Crusade continues emphasis on
deepening the spiritual life
through teaching.
‘It is felt that the spiritual life
of the church will be
considerably strengthened as a
result of this special Crusade’.
William Shaw
Methodist
Revival – Missioner –
the Rev. George Brown
(Evangelisation Society
of South Australia).
R2
April-May
1930
Presbyterian,
Baptist, Methodist,
Salvation Army
United Crusade – Mr.
Ernest E. Mitchell
(LPA).
R2
24 August-7
September
1930
Methodist
Spiritual Advance
Crusade – the Rev. Dr.
William Shaw
Evangelistic Crusade –
the Revs. H.A. Gunter
and M.C. Morris (Circuit
Ministers)
R2
MarchOctober 1931
Adelaide and country
R2
16-24 August
1931
Glencoe
Spiritual Advance
Crusade – the Rev. Dr.
William Shaw. Includes
Adelaide Simultaneous
Evangelistic Crusade
Spiritual Advance
Crusade – the Rev. Dr.
William Shaw.
Evangelistic Mission –
Wesley College students
R2
May-October
1932
Adelaide and country.
Adelaide
Simultaneous Crusade
(5-30 June 1932).
R2
May 1934
Circuit – Unknown
location
Two weeks
Invitation
Mission – For the
R2
September
Maylands Circuit
One week
Circuit decision
Methodist
Methodist
Methodist
Methodist
Methodist
District – Mission
Willunga, Noarlunga,
Bethany, McLaren
Flat, Aldinga,
McLaren Vale.
Jamestown
‘Many re-consecration
cards were signed, and
numbers of decisions were
made by adults, young
people and children’.
Conference
decision and
Invitation
432
433
434
435
436
R2
Limited reporting
393
Reference
‘Two hundred young
people made a profession
of faith’.
Some decisions recorded.
437
438
‘The meetings during the week
439
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Enrichment of the
Spiritual life of the
Church
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
1934
Methodist
Revival
R2
September
1934
Woodside Circuit
One week
Circuit decision
Methodist
Methodist Crusade – the
Rev. Norman Dunning
R2
Adelaide – Pirie Street
and Malvern churches
Eight days
Invitation
Methodist
Spiritual Crusade –the
Rev. Edgar Arnold
(Circuit Minister)
R2
17-25
February
1935
June-July
1935
Alberton Circuit –
Royal Park
Alberton
Royal Park –
Five days.
Alberton Unknown
Circuit decision
Methodist
Revival and Spiritual
Deepening Crusade –
Circuit Resources
Evangelistic Crusade –
the Rev. F.W. Brasher
(Circuit Minister)
Group Movement – the
Rev. A.E. Vogt
R2
January 1936
Willunga Circuit Nangkita
Unknown
Circuit decision
R2
January 1936
Willunga Circuit
Unknown
Circuit decision
R2
JanuaryFebruary
1936
Berri
Regular Circuit
Work
Circuit decision
Methodist
Methodist
Souls Saved
394
Converts at:
* Woodside – 18.
* Lenswood – 20.
Reporting on missions
around South Australia, the
Australian Christian
Commonwealth, stated that,
‘we are able to report only
a little of what is going on
in our State because the
brethren do not volunteer
the information’.
No record of conversions
cited.
Royal Park – Two
conversions.
Alberton – 61 conversions
(20 over the age of 16
years).
Eight young men and
women made an ‘open
confession of faith’.
‘Nearly 30 confessions of
faith have been made’.
‘During the last six weeks
six have been received into
church membership, five of
whom were definitely led
to make their surrender to
Jesus Christ through this
Other Effects
were of a quiet devotional
nature’. Conducted by the
Revs. H.W. Jew, H.A. Gunter,
E.T. Pryor, and the Circuit
Minister.
Ministers who participated: the
Revs. B.S. Howland, M.C.
Morris Edgar Miller.
‘A new and beautiful spirit is
in the church. We feel now that
we have a real fellowship into
which we can invite others’.
Daily lunch hour addresses for
business people at the Pirie
Street Church.
‘A wonderful reception service
was held on Sunday, August 4,
when the minister received
over 40 into church
membership’.
Preaching Band of four men
formed.
Reference
440
441
442
443
444
‘I believe that the Movement
cannot only enrich our beloved
Church, but that it belongs to
the very heart of Methodism. It
is so much akin to the class
meeting…The revival is here’.
445
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
movement within our
church.
‘There have been between
50 and 60 confessions of
faith, chiefly among our
young people, and many of
those who are already
professing Christians have
been revived in their faith’.
Methodist
Centenary Evangelistic
Crusade – the Rev. F.W.
Brasher (Circuit
Minister)
R2
June-August
1936
West Hindmarsh
Circuit – West
Hindmarsh, West
Croydon, Allenby
Gardens, Flinders
Park, Findon.
Three months
Circuit decision
Methodist
Centenary Evangelistic
Work - Report of L.M.
Humphery (Conference
Evangelistic
Committee). Sixty six
circuits provided
responses.
Evangelistic Crusade
(part of city-wide
Simultaneous Mission –
the Rev. F.W. Brasher –
Missioner.
R2
During 1936
Sixty six circuits.
Unknown
Circuit Decision
One hundred and fifty
seven conversions
recorded.
R2
5-19
September
1937
Elgin Church,
Adelaide.
Two weeks
Conference and
Circuit decision.
Two conversions
R2
Early
September
1937
AugustOctober 1938
Mitcham Church,
Adelaide.
Ten days
Conference and
Circuit decision.
Various Churches
One week at
each location
District and
Circuit decision
15-28
September
1938
Northern Methodist
Circuit – Broken Hill
Two weeks
Circuit decision
Methodist –
Mission to the
Church and not the
‘outsider’.
The Rev. H.F. Lyons –
Missioner.
Methodist
Methodist
Evangelism on Eyre
Peninsula – exchange of
Circuit Ministers
Mission Crusade – the
Rev. Edgar Miller and
Mr. Geo. Hall of
Melbourne.
R2
R2
395
Ten conversions of Sunday
School scholars over
twelve years of age.
No reported conversions
‘We have now a junior
membership of 80, and 58
of these have made their
decision for the first time’.
Other Effects
Reference
‘In one place a Men’s SundaySchool class has been
established; a Sunday School
has been effectively
reorganized; an Order of
Knights is in process of
formation at one centre; and at
another a young people’s
week-night CE Society will be
established’.
Group Meetings (Oxford
Group) held. Recognition
Services conducted. New
members received into the
Church.
446
‘The result has been a very
decided quickening of church
life, and the beginning of
spiritual power and blessing’.
448
447
‘Spiritual tone of the Church
has been lifted’.
Missions were ‘helpful’, with
‘many experiencing a spiritual
uplift’.
‘The young people of our
Churches and Sunday Schools
have been greatly blessed’.
449
450
Denomination
Event Description
Category
Date
Location
Duration
Initiating
Action
Souls Saved
Other Effects
Reference
Methodist
Evangelistic Missions –
the Rev. E.N.
Broomhead (Conference
Evangelist)
R2
AprilDecember
1939
Locations throughout
South Australia
Nine months
Conference
decision
A number of conversions
and reconsecrations were
recorded. At a mission at
Port Adelaide, 22
conversions and 14
reconsecrations were
recorded.
The South Australian
Methodist Conference reintroduced the appointment
of Conference Evangelist
in February 1939.
The role of the Conference
Evangelist was to evangelise
those within the Church with
special emphasis on youth.
‘Outside evangelism’ was a
second consideration.
451
396
Summary – Revival-Type Events according to Category – 1838-1939
Years
1838-1865
1866-1899
1900-1913
1914-1939
Totals
R2
10
296
110
87
503
R3
7
1
8
R2 or R3
29
29
4
62
R4
1
1
Total
39
333
115
87
574
Summary – Revival-Type Events according to City-Rural Occurrence – 1838-1939
Years
1838-1865
1866-1899
1900-1913
1914-1939
Totals
City
15
82
17
23
137
Rural
24
251
98
64
437
Total
39
333
115
87
574
References
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2. James Bickford, Christian Work in Australasia (London: Wesleyan Conference, 1878),142; James Haslam, History of Wesleyan Methodism in South Australia: From its Commencement to its Jubilee (Adelaide: South
Australian Methodist Historical Society, 1958), 66; Australian Christian Commonwealth, 26 July 1901, 5.
397
3. Arnold D. Hunt, This Side of Heaven (Adelaide: Lutheran Publishing House, 1985), 48.
4. Minutes of South Australia Conference, 1906, Obituary Notice, ‘Rev. James Allen’.
5. South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, August 1878, 430, Obituary Notice, ‘Mary Berry’; South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, November 1891, 380; South Australian Bible Christian Monthly, September 1895,
116; Australian Christian Commonwealth, 17 November 1905, 8.
6. John C. Symons, Life of the Rev. Daniel James Draper (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1870), 117-120.
7. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 28 November 1884, 2; Symons, Life of the Rev. Daniel James Draper, 119-120.
8. Hunt, This Side of Heaven, 67-69; E. A. Curnow, His Spirit Comes (Adelaide: Uniting Church in South Australia, Historical Society, 1997), 60. Arnold D. Hunt, The Bible Christians in South Australia (Adelaide: Uniting
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chapels on the Gawler Plains, Ebenezer and Zoar, see South Australian Bible Christian Monthly, December 1892, 174-176; February 1893, 210-212.
9. W. Alfred Langsford, The Life of Mr. John Langsford: Fifty Years a Local Preacher and Class Leader in the Wesleyan Methodist Church with Extracts from his Diary (Adelaide: Wesleyan Book Depot, 1895), 40-41.
10. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 6 October 1911, 8.
11. Langsford, The Life of Mr. John Langsford, 41.
12. South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, August 1869, 116, Obituary Notice, ‘Mary Jane Oxenham’.
13. Wesleyan Chronicle (Melbourne), July 1858, 241.
14. J. L. Potter, Little Para Pilgrims (Salisbury: Salisbury and District Historical Society, 1997), 20.
15. Harry Alvey, Burra, its Mines and Methodism (Adelaide: South Australian Methodist Historical Society, 1960), 8; Kapunda Herald, 11 October 1907, 5; South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, November 1884, 339;
November 1886, 583; South Australian Register, 28 August 1884, 3, Obituary Notice, ‘Rev. James Way’; Burra Record, 7 September 1898, 3; The Revival, 28 January 1860, 30; 28 April 1860, 135; Robert Evans, Early
Evangelical Revivals in Australia (Hazelbrook, NSW: Robert Evans, 2000), 321-323; J. Edwin Orr, Evangelical Awakenings in the South Seas (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany, 1976), 55.
16. Wesleyan Methodist Magazine (England), December 1859, 1131-1132; Australian Christian Commonwealth, 9 December 1904, 11; Arnold D. Hunt, ‘Burgess, Henry Thomas’, ADEB (Sydney: Evangelical History
Association, 1994), 56-57.
17. South Australian Wesleyan Magazine, January 1865, 41-42.
18. South Australian Weekly Chronicle, 30 June 1860, 1. South Australian Register, 7 July 1860, 3; Australian Christian Commonwealth, 26 November 1909, 5.
19. Ian Paull, Methodism in Auburn and District (Adelaide: South Australian Methodist Historical Society, 1961), 6-7; South Australian Register 7 December 1860, 1; Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 3 August 1900, 9;
Australian Christian Commonwealth, 8 April 1904, 13.
20. South Australian Register, 10 August 1860, 3.
21. South Australian Register, 28 September 1860, 3; Australian Christian Commonwealth, 16 August 1907, 5.
22. Paull, Methodism in Auburn and District, 6; South Australian Register, 28 September 1860, 3.
23. Christian Advocate and Wesleyan Record, 15 September 1859, 314. Wesleyan Chronicle, September 1859, 205.
24. Alvey, Burra, its Mines and Methodism, 8.
25. South Australian Primitive Methodist Record, April 1873, 349.
26.Oswald Pryor, Australia’s Little Cornwall (Adelaide: Rigby, 1962), 100. http://www.samemory.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?c=7305 (1 October2013). Yorke Peninsula Advertiser, 27 November 1914, 3; Australian Christian
Commonwealth, 4 December 1914, 14.
27. John Watsford, Glorious Gospel Triumphs (London: Charles H. Kelly, 1900), 127-137; Circuit Magazine, August 1864, 22-23). The Circuit Magazine was a combined initiative of the Superintendents of the Wesleyan
Adelaide first, second, and third Circuits. Only two issues were produced (August and?) It was replaced by the District publication, the South Australian Wesleyan Magazine in November 1864. Australian Christian
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28. South Australian Primitive Methodist Record, January 1864, 16.
29. Circuit Magazine, August 1864, 23.
30. South Australian Wesleyan Magazine, November 1864, 14.
31. South Australian Primitive Methodist Record, October 1864, 12-13, Obituary Notice, ‘Jacob Dennison Neate’.
32. South Australian Wesleyan Magazine, April 1865, 110; August 1865, 159; Methodist Journal, 26 March 1875, 173.
398
33. Watsford, Glorious Gospel Triumphs, 136-137; South Australian Wesleyan Magazine, January 1864, 42; July 1865, 131-133; South Australian Primitive Methodist Record, September 1865, 13.
34. South Australian Wesleyan Magazine, August 1865, 154-157; October 1865, 181-183; November 1865, 193-216; January 1866, 15-17. On Taylor, see Encyclopedia of World Methodism, vol. 2 (Nashville: Methodist
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35. South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, February 1870, 166, Obituary Notice, ‘Elizabeth Chandler’.
36. South Australian Primitive Methodist Record, January 1866, 13.
37. South Australian Primitive Methodist Record, July 1866, 83.
38. South Australian Wesleyan Magazine, January 1867, 22-23.
39. South Australian Wesleyan Magazine, July 1867, 108-115; Watsford, Glorious Gospel Triumphs, 137-138; Langsford, The Life of Mr. John Langsford, 51-52.
40. South Australian Wesleyan Magazine, July 1867, 119; October 1867, 158; April 1868, 30.
41. South Australian Wesleyan Magazine, October 1867, 155.
42. South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, November 1867, 42.
43. South Australian Primitive Methodist Record, October 1867, 116.
44. South Australian Primitive Methodist Record, October 1867, 116.
45. South Australian Wesleyan Magazine, October 1867, 155-157.
46. South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, November 1867, 116.
47. South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, February 1868, 69.
48. South Australian Primitive Methodist Record, April 1868, 43; July 1868, 83; October 1868, 116.
49. South Australian Primitive Methodist Record, July 1868, 83-84.
50. South Australian Primitive Methodist Record, October 1868, 118.
51. South Australian Wesleyan Magazine, October 1868, 91.
52. South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, November 1868, 46; South Australian Wesleyan Magazine, October 1868, 91.
53. South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, February 1869, 69.
54. South Australian Primitive Methodist Record, October 1869, 112.
55. South Australian Primitive Methodist Record, October 1869, 113.
56. South Australian Wesleyan Magazine, October 1869, 90.
57. Patrick Francis Moran, History of the Catholic Church in Australia (Sydney: Oceanic Publishing Company, n.d., circa 1895), 524; H. R. Jackson, Churches and People in Australia and New Zealand 1860-1930 (Wellington:
Allen & Unwin New Zealand Limited in association with the Port Nicholson Press, 1987), 75-76; Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 18 January 1895, 5.
58. South Australian Wesleyan Magazine, April 1870, 20; July 1870, 38, 61; October 1870, 87, 94; Northern Argus, 1 April 1870, 3; 27 May 1870, 2; South Australian Register, 21 April 1870, 5; 23 May 1870, 6; 24 May 1870,
6; 1 June 1870, 5; 11 June 1870, 5; 14 June 1870, 7; South Australian Chronicle and Weekly Mail, 14 May 1870, 7; 18 June 1870, 6; Australian Christian Commonwealth, 29 August 1919, 342; Langsford, The Life of Mr. John
Langsford, 53-54.
59. South Australian Wesleyan Magazine, July 1870, 61; October 1870, 87, 94; Northern Argus, 1 April 1870, 3; 27 May 1870, 2.
60. South Australian Primitive Methodist Record, July 1872, 267.
61. South Australian Primitive Methodist Record, January 1873, 330.
62. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 9 December 1904, 11.
63. South Australian Primitive Methodist Record, October 1873, 56-57.
64. South Australian Wesleyan Magazine, January 1874, 128.
65.South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, August 1874, 1-2.
66. South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, August 1874, 2, 20-21.
67. Methodist Journal, 1 August 1874, 3; 5 September 1874, 2.
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399
69. South Australian Primitive Methodist Record, October 1874, 185; Australian Christian Commonwealth, 31 July 1908, 7.
70. South Australian Primitive Methodist Record, October 1874, 186-187.
71. South Australian Primitive Methodist Record, October 1874, 187.
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Bible Christian Magazine, February 1875, 93; August 1875, 97-101; Truth and Progress, July 1875, 73-75; November 1875, 133-134; July 1890, 114. South Australian Primitive Methodist Record, July 1875, 279-280; January
1876, 344. Methodist Journal, 30 April 1875, 3; 7 May 1875, 3; 14 May 1875, 3; 21 May 1875, 2; 28 May 1875, 2; 4 June 1875, 2; 11 June 1875, 2; 4 June 1875, 1; 18 June 1875, 3; 4 February 1876, 1; Australian Christian
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73. Methodist Journal, 2 July 1875, 3; Pryor, Australia’s Little Cornwall, 169-170.
74. Methodist Journal, 9 July 1875, 2.
75. Methodist Journal, 30 July 1875, 2; 3 September 1875, 2.
76. Methodist Journal, 13 August 1875, 2; 10 September 1875, 2.
77. South Australian Primitive Methodist Record, October 1875, 318.
78. Methodist Journal, 16 June 1876, 3.
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Christian Magazine. Reproduced in Bible Christian Magazine, 1877, 40-41.
80. South Australian Primitive Methodist Record, July 1876, 421.
81. Methodist Journal, 15, 22, & 29 June 1877, 2; Barry Chant, The Spirit of Pentecost: The Origins and Development of the Pentecostal Movement in Australia (Lexington: Emeth Press, 2011), 39-40.
82. Methodist Journal, 22 June 1877, 2; 29 June 1877, 2; 13 July 1877, 3; 10 & 24 August 1877, 3; 31 August 1877, 2; 7 September 1877, 3; 21 September 1877, 5; 5 October 1877, 5; 4 January 1878, 5.
83. Methodist Journal, 15 & 29 June 1877, 2; 6, 13, 20 July 1877, 3; 10 August 1877, 3; 14 September 1877, 3; 28 September 1877, 5.
84. Methodist Journal 6 & 27 July 1877, 3; 12 October 1877, 5.
85. South Australian Primitive Methodist Record, October 1877, 152; January 1878, 183.
86. South Australian Primitive Methodist Record, October 1877, 152-153; January 1878, 184.
87. Bible Christian Magazine (English), 1877, 40-41, Letter from Rev. T. Hillman.
88. Methodist Journal, 13 July 1877, 3; 10 August 1877, 3; 5 October 1877, 5.
89. Methodist Journal, 10 August 1877, 3.
90. South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, February 1878, 384.
91. South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, November 1877, 362; February 1878, 384-385.
92. Methodist Journal, 20 October 1876, 3; 5 October 1877, 5; 4 January 1878, 5.
93. South Australian Primitive Record, October 1877, 154.
94. South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, November 1877, 360.
95. South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, November 1877, 360-361; Australian Christian Commonwealth, 8 June 1906, 3.
96. South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, November 1877, 362.
97. South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, November 1877, 362; February 1878, 384-385.
98. South Australian Primitive Methodist Record, January 1878, 187-188.
99. H. Hussey, More than Half a Century of Colonial Life and Christian Experience, (Adelaide: Hussey and Gillingham, 1897), 399-400; 403-404; Henry Varley Junior, Henry Varley’s Life Story (London: Alfred Holness,
1916), 123; Darrell Paproth, ‘Henry Varley Down Under: Part One’, Lucas: An Evangelical History Review 30 (2001), 56-58; Truth and Progress, July 1878, 75-76; August 1878, 89-92; November 1878, 126, 135.
100. Methodist Journal, 6 September 1878, 7; 1 November 1878, 1; 6 June 1879, 9.
101. South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, November 1878, 455; February 1888, 711.
102. South Australian Primitive Methodist Record, October 1878, 276.
103. Methodist Journal, 10 January 1879, 5.
400
104. South Australian Primitive Methodist Record, October 1879, 411.
105. South Australian Primitive Methodist Record, October 1879, 412.
106. South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, October 1879, 531.
107. Methodist Journal 10 October 1879, 8.
108. Methodist Journal, 10 October 1879, 8.
109. Methodist Journal, 2 April 1880, 7; 9 April 1880, 5; 30 April 1880, 6-7; 7 May 1880, 7; 14 May 1880, 6; 28 May 1880, 7; 4 June 1880, 7; 9 July 1880, 8.
110. Methodist Journal, 18 June 1880, 8; 2 July 1880, 1; 9 July 1880, 5; 16 July 1880, 7; 23 July 1880, 8; 8 October 1880, 7.
111. Methodist Journal, 6 August 1880, 7.
112. Methodist Journal, 20 August 1880, 8.
113. Methodist Journal, 27 August 1880, 5; 17 September 1880, 3; 1 October 1860, 5.
114. Methodist Journal, 27 August 1880, 7; 24 September 1880, 8; 1 October 1880, 4; 8 October 1880, 8.
115. Methodist Journal, 4 June 1880, 8, 16 July 1880, 3; 8 October 1880, 4.
116. Methodist Journal, 22 October 1880, 8.
117. Methodist Journal, 29 October 1880, 8; 5 November 1880, 8; 19 November 1880, 5; 21 January 1881, 7.
118Methodist Journal, 28 January 1881, 8.
119. Methodist Journal, 3 December 1880, 8; 17 December 1880, 8; 24 December 1880, 6; 7 January 1881, 8; 14 January 1881, 4; 21 January 1881, 8.
120. Methodist Journal, 11 March 1881, 8; 18 March 1881, 5; 25 March 1881, 5.
121. Methodist Journal, 1 April 1881, 7; 8 April 1881, 9.
122. Methodist Journal, 15 April 1881, 7; 22 April 1881, 8; 29 April 1881, 7-8.
123. Methodist Journal, 20 May 1881, 9-10; 3 June 1881, 9.
124. South Australian Advertiser, 20 May 1881, 6; Methodist Journal, 27 May 1881, 9.
125. Methodist Journal, 10 June 1881, 4, 8; 17 June 1881, 7; 15 July 1881, 3.
126. Methodist Journal, 24 June 1881, 7; 1 July 1881, 8; 15 July 1881, 6-7.
127. Methodist Journal, 29 July 1881, 8; 17 July 1881, 3; 26 August 1881, 3; 26 August 1881, 7; 2 September 1881, 4, 8; 9 September 1881, 8; 21 October 1881, 9; South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, February 1882.
178. Illustrated Christian Weekly, 6 January 1882, 120.
128. Methodist Journal, 23 September 1881, 4, 8; 30 September 1881, 5; 21 October 1881, 7, 8; 4 November 1881, (no page number – 541). Northern Argus, 20 September 1881, 3; 23 September 1881, 3; 27 September 1881, 3;
4 October 1881, 3. Illustrated Christian Weekly, 31 March 1882, 268.
129. Methodist Journal, 21 October 1881, 8; Illustrated Christian Weekly, 4 November 1881, (no page numbers – numbers 531 and 541 on bottom of respective pages); 25 November 1881, 47; Bickford, An Autobiography of
Christian Labour, 383.
130. Illustrated Christian Weekly, 4 November 1881, (no page number – 541).
131. Illustrated Christian Weekly, 11 November 1881, 23; Illustrated Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 14 July 1882, 3; Illustrated Christian Weekly, 31 March 1882, 267.
132. Illustrated Christian Weekly, 18 November 1881, 25.
133. Illustrated Christian Weekly, 25 November 1881, 47; 9 December 1881, 72; 13 January 1882, 121.
134. South Australian Advertiser, 5 December 1881, 5.
135. Illustrated Christian Weekly, 16 December 1881, 74; 23 December 1881, 96; 30 December 1881, 108; 6 January 1882, 120.
136. Illustrated Christian Weekly, 17 February 1882, 182; 24 February 1882, 193; 3 March 1882, 216; 17 March 1882, 240.
137. Illustrated Christian Weekly, 24 March 1882, 242; 31 March 1882, 258; South Australian Register, 21 March 1882, 6; South Australian Advertiser, 21 March 1882, 5; 23 March 1882, 4-5; 25 March 1882, 5.
138. Illustrated Christian Weekly, 31 March 1882, 258; Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 7 April 1882, 3.
139. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 14 April 1882, 3; 28 April 1882, 3; 28 April 1882, 3.
140. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 5 May 1882, 6; 12 May 1882, 6.
401
141. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 19 May 1882, 6; 26 May 1882, 5,6.
142. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 2 June 1882, 6; 9 June 1882, 3.
143. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 7 July 1882, 6; 14 July 1882, 3; 6 October 1882, 5.
144. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 4 August 1882, 3.
145. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 18 August 1882, 6.
146. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 18 August 1882, 6; 6 October 1882, 5; 5 April 1889, 3; 23 January 1914, 6; Primitive Methodist Record, 28 April 1883, 2; 4 August 1883, 3.
147. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 18 August 1882, 6; 25 August 1882, 3; 8 September 1882, 6; 15 September 1882, 3; 22 September 1882, 3; 29 September 1882, 3, 6; 6 October 1882, 6.
148. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 29 September 1882, 3, 6; 6 October 1882, 6; 13 October 1882, 6.
149.Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 20 October 1882, 6; 27 October 1882, 6; 3 November 1882, 3; 24 November 1882, 3; 1 December 1882, 6; 5 January 1883, 3; 10 October 1884, 6.
150. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 8 December 1882, 6; 5 January 1883, 2.
151. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 13 April 1883, 3.
152. Primitive Methodist Record, 23 June 1883, 3; 18 August 1883, 2-3; 27 October 1883, 2.
153. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 25 May 1883, 6; 1 June 1883, 6; 29 June 1883, 6; 6 July 1883, 3; 20 July 1883, 6; 21 September 1883, 6.
154. Primitive Methodist Record, 21 July 1883, 3; 4 August 1883, 2.
155. Primitive Methodist Record, 21 July 1883, 3.
156. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 6 July 1883, 3; 13 July 1883, 6; 27 July 1883, 6; 24 August 1883, 6.
157. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 6 July 1883, 2-3; 13 July 1883, 6; 20 July 1883, 6; 27 July 1883, 6; 5 October 1883, 2; Bunyip, 8 June 1883, 2.
158. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 20 July 1883, 5; 27 July 1883, 5-6; 3 August 1883, 5-7; 10 August 1883, 2-3; 17 August 1883, 5; Primitive Methodist Record, 4 August 1883, 4; South Australian Register, 2
August 1883, 6; South Australian Advertiser, 2 August 1883, 4; South Australian Advertiser, 23 November 1885, 5.
159. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 10 August 1883, 6; 17 August 1883, 6; 31 August 1883, 6; 28 September 1883, 7.
160. South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, August 1883, 257-258; Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 5 October 1883, 2-3.
161. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 21 September 1883, 6; 28 September 1883, 6-7; 28 December 1883, 6.
162. South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, November 1883, 273.
163. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 20 June 1884, 6; 10 October 1884, 6.
164. Truth and Progress, 1 June 1883, 63; Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 4 July 1884, 6; 3 October 1884, 6; 17 October 1884, 5; South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, August 1884, 325-326.
165. South Australian Bible Christian Monthly, February 1885, 383.
166. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 1 August 1884, 6; 8 August 1884, 6.
167. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 8 August 1884, 6.
168. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 15 August 1884, 6; 22 August 1884, 5; 5 September 1884, 6; 19 September 1884, 3; 3 October 1884, 6; 2 January 1885, 6; 27 March 1885, 6.
169. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 29 August 1884, 6.
170. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 5 September 1884, 6.
171. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 19 September 1884, 7.
172. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 3 October 1884, 3.
173. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 7 November 1884, 6.
174. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 12 June 1885, 6; 24 July 1885, 6; 14 August 1885, 6.
175. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 14 August 1885, 6.
176. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 14 August 1885, 6.
177. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 14 August 1885, 6.
178. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 14 August 1885, 6; 21 August 1885, 6.
179. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 2 October 1885, 6.
402
180. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 2 October 1885, 5; 9 October 1885, 5; 16 October 1885, 7.
181. South Australian Primitive Methodist Record, October 1885, 56-57, 61.
182. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 30 October 1885, 7; 6 November 1885, 4; 13 November 1885, 4; 20 November 1885, 5; 27 November 1885, 7; 11 December 1885, 3; 18 December 1885, 3; South Australian
Advertiser, 23 November 1885, 5; South Australian Register, 24 November 1885, 6.
183. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 15 January 1886, 6.
184. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 12 February 1886, 7.
185. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 26 February 1886, 7.
186. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 12 March 1886, 6; 19 March 1886, 6.
187. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 16 April 1886, 6.
188. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 16 April 1886, 6.
189. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 26 March 1886, 4; 2 April 1886, 2, 4; 9 April 1886, 4; 16 April 1886, 5; South Australian Advertiser, 5 April 1886, 7; 6 April 1886, 7; 13 April 1886, 6; South Australian Weekly
Chronicle, 10 April 1886, 9; South Australian Register, 12 April 1886, 7; 13 April 1886, 7.
190. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 30 April 1886, 3.
191. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 29 February 1884, 5; 23 April 1886, 4-6; 30 April 1886, 4-6; 7 May 1886, 4-6; 14 May 1886, 5; South Australian Register, 17 April 1886, 7; 8 May 1886, 7; South Australian
Weekly Chronicle, 24 April 1886, 8; 1 May 1886, 9; 8 May 1886, 19, 21; South Australian Advertiser, 19 April 1886, 6; 20 April 1886, 5; 22 April 1886, 6; 7 May 1886, 5; 8 May 1886, 4, 7.
192. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 23 July 1886, 6.
193. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 6 August 1886, 6-7.
194. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 8 October 1886, 6.
195. South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, November 1886, 577-578.
196. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 29 April 1887, 3; 6 May 1887, 3.
197. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 13 May 1887, 5; 20 May 1887, 6; 27 May 1887, 6; 3 June 1887, 5; 10 June 1887, 6; 24 June 1887, 5; 8 July 1887, 3; 22 July 1887, 7; 7 October 1887. 6; 2 December 1887, 5.
198. South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, February 1887, 623; August 1887, 669.
199. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 5 August 1887, 7.
200. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 5 August 1887, 7; 12 August 1887, 6.
201. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 19 August 1887, 6; 26 August 1887, 3.
202. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 2 September 1887, 7; 21 October 1887, 6.
203. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 9 September 1887, 6; 23 September 1887, 6; 14 October 1887, 6; 20 January 1888, 6; 20 July 1934, 16.
204. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 9 September 1887, 6.
205. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 23 September 1887, 6.
206. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 30 September 1887, 3.
207. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 7 October 1887, 7.
208. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 21 October 1887, 5.
209. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 21 October 1887, 7; 1 February 1889, 7
210. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 28 October 1887, 7.
211. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 18 November 1887, 3.
212. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 2 December 1887, 5; 27 January 1888, 5.
213. South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, November 1887, 697-698.
214. South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, February 1888, 719-721, 726.
215. South Australian Primitive Methodist Magazine, October 1887, 439-440.
216. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 2 March 1888, 6; 9 March 1888, 7; 16 March 1888, 6.
403
217. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 16 March 1888, 6; 23 March 1888, 6.
218. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 9 March 1888, 7; 23 March 1888, 6.
219. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 13 April 1888, 7.
220. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 27 April 1888, 8; 4 May 1888, 8.
221. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 4 May 1888, 8.
222. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 18 May 1888, 9.
223. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 8 June 1888, 8.
224. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 29 June 1888, 9.
225. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 6 July 1888, 10.
226. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 13 July 1888, 8.
227. South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, August 1888, 20-21; February 1890, 193.
228. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 3 August 1888, 8.
229. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 31 August 1888, 4.
230. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 21 September 1888, 8.
231. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 9 November 1888, 10.
232. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 23 November 1888, 8.
233. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 1 March 1889, 8; 8 March 1889, 9; 22 March 1889, 4; 5 April 1889, 3.
234. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 3 May 1889, 6, 8.
235. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 14 June 1889, 9; 5 July 1889, 4.
236. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 19 July 1889, 9.
237. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 16 August 1889, 4.
238. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 23 August 1889, 8.
239. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 18 October 1889, 4; 25 October 1889, 6.
240. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 27 September 1889, 8.
241. South Australian Primitive Methodist, October 1889, 268.
242. South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, November 1889, 152, 156.
243. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 24 January 1890, 4.
244. South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, August 1890, 240-241.
245. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 15 August 1890, 5; 22 August 1890, 7; 3 October 1890, 3; 24 October 1890, 8; Advertiser, 18 August 1890, 6; 28 August 1890, 7; 29 August 1890, 7; 6 September 1890, 5; 30
September 1890, 7; 2 October 1890, 6; 7 October 1890, 4; South Australian Register, 15 September 1890, 3; 29 September 1890, 6-7.
246. South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, November 1890, 269; Australian Christian Commonwealth, 24 July 1931, 5.
247. South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, August 1891, 356-357.
248. South Australian Bible Christian Magazine, November 1891, 386.
249. South Australian Bible Christian Monthly, June 1892, 75-76.
250. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 20 May 1892, 4; 27 May 1892, 1; 10 June 1892, 4; Petersburg Times, 2.
251. South Australian Bible Christian Monthly, July 1892, 91; August 1892, 106-107.
252. South Australian Bible Christian Monthly, August 1892, 107.
253. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 24 June 1892, 4; Correspondence, J.R. Bradbury to Australian Christian Commonwealth, 14 August 1936, 12.
254. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 22 July 1892, 2.
255. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 24 June 1892, 7; 1 July 1892, 1, 6-7; 8 July 1892, 1-2; 22 July 1892, 1-3.
404
256. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 15 July 1892, 5.
257. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 26 August 1892, 5.
258. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 26 August 1892, 5.
259. South Australian Bible Christian Monthly, November 1892, 160; January 1893, 203.
260. South Australian Bible Christian Monthly, November 1892, 165.
261. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 2 September 1892, 5.
262. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 18 November 1892, 2.
263. South Australian Bible Christian Monthly, December 1892, 173.
264. South Australian Bible Christian Monthly, June 1893, 321.
265. South Australian Bible Christian Monthly, July 1893, 334, 357-358; March 1894, 483.
266. South Australian Bible Christian Monthly, September 1893, 371.
267. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 8 September 1893, 5.
268. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 15 September 1893, 5.
269. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 22 September 1893, 5.
270. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 6 October 1893, 5; 8 December 1893, 3; 9 March 1894, 3.
271. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 10 November 1893, 6.
272. South Australian Primitive Methodist, October 1893, 454.
273. South Australian Bible Christian Monthly, December 1893, 429.
274. South Australian Bible Christian Monthly, February 1894, 466.
275. South Australian Bible Christian Monthly, June 1894, 65.
276. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 9 March 1894, 10; 27 April 1894, 5.
277. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 18 May 1894, 12.
278. South Australian Bible Christian Monthly, June 1891, 63.
279. South Australian Bible Christian Monthly, June 1894, 64.
280. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 29 June 1894, 8.
281. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 29 June 1894, 8; 31 August 1894, 5.
282. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 9 March 1894, 3; 30 March 1894, 3-4; 20 April 1894, 3; 27 April 1894, 3; 4 May 1894, 7; 4 May 1894, 8; 11 May 1894, 7; 25 May 1894, 3; 1 June 1894, 12; 8 June 1894, 3; 22
June 1894, 3; 29 June 1894, 5; 6 July 1894, 4, 6; 4 January 1895, 5, 10; 11 January 1895, 5; South Australian Register, 10 April 1894, 5; 25 April 1894, 7; 28 June 1894, 7; Advertiser, 7 April 1894, 6; 23 June 1894, 6; 27 June
1894, 4, 6; South Australian Primitive Methodist, July 1894, 76; October 1894, 130-131; Australian Christian Commonwealth, 17 February 1939, 1; 21 July 1939, 11; On Hartley Gladstone Hawkins, see H. Coxon, J. Playford
and R, Reid, Biographical Register of the South Australian Parliament (Netley: Wakefield Press, 1985), 104; Advertiser, 10 July 1939, 20.
283. South Australian Register, 28 May 1894, 3; 30 May 1894, 7; 2 June 1894, 6; 4 June 1894, 3; 5 June 1894, 7; 6 June 1894, 7; Advertiser, 23 May 1894, 6; 30 May 1894, 6; 1 June 1894, 6; 2 June 1894, 6; 23 June 1894, 6; 27
July 1894, 6; 28 July 1894, 5; Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 3 August 1894, 3; 17 August 1894, 7.
284. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 10 August 1894, 5.
285. South Australian Bible Christian Monthly, August 1894, 98.
286. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 15 June 1894, 8; 29 June 1894, 3; 17 August 1894, 7; South Australian Bible Christian Monthly, July 1894, 79; Advertiser, 26 May 1894, 6; 28 May 1894, 6; 4 June 1894, 5; 12
June 1894, 6; 21 June 1894, 4; 27 June 1894, 6; 28 June 1894, 6; 30 June 1894, 7; South Australian Register, 28 May 1894, 3; 25 June 1894, 6; South Australian Chronicle, 2 June 1894, 9.
287. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 18 January 1895, 5.
288. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 9 December 1904, 11.
289. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 7 June 1895, 3.
290. South Australian Bible Christian Monthly, September 1895, 123.
405
291. South Australian Bible Christian Monthly, October 1895, 141-142.
292. South Australian Bible Christian Monthly, November 1895, 159.
293. South Australian Bible Christian Monthly, August 1896, 101; September 1896, 121; October 1896, 138; December 1896, 170.
294. South Australian Bible Christian Monthly, June 1897, 69.
295. South Australian Bible Christian Monthly, September 1897, 128-129.
296. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 21 July 1899, 10.
297. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 28 July 1899, 10.
298. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 28 July 1899, 10.
299. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 28 July 1899, 10.
300. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 4 August 1899, 10.
301. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 11 August 1899, 11.
302. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 11 August 1899, 14.
303. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 18 August 1899, 10.
304. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 25 August 1899, 10.
305. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 1 September 1899, 5.
306. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 8 September 1899, 6-7; South Australian Register, 17 August 1899, 6; 8 September 1899, 6; 22 September 1899, 6; 13 November 1899, 3; 22 November 1899, 3; 23 November
1899, 6; Advertiser, 18 August 1899; 6; 5 September 1899, 7; 10 November 1899, 6; 21 November 1899, 5; 22 November 1899, 9; 23 November 1899, 6.
307. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 22 September 1899, 10.
308. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 6 October 1899 , 5; 13 October 1899 , 2.
309. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 10 November 1899, 11.
310. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 10 August 1900, 5, 7.
311. Christian Weekly and Methodist Journal, 16 November 1900, 8.
312. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 29 November 1901, 7.
313. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 29 November 1901, 7.
314. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 11 April 1902, 6.
315. Register, 27 May 1902, 6; 5 June 1902, 3; 9 June 1902, 4; 10 June 1902, 6; 13 June 1902, 6; 14 June 1902, 3; 16 June 1902, 6; 17 June 1902, 7; 18 June 1902, 8; 19 June 1902, 7; 23 June 1902, 5-6; 24 June 1902, 6; 1 July
1902, 6; 26 July 1902, 10; Herald, 10 May 1902, 10; Australian Christian Commonwealth, 13 June 1902, 8; 20 June 1902, 3-4, 8-9.
316. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 11 July 1902, 4; 8 August 1902, 4.
317. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 25 July 1902, 6.
318. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 22 August 1902, 5.
319. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 29 August 1902, 4.
320. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 12 September 1902, 13.
321. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 14 November 1902, 13.
322. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 29 May 1903, 12, 14.
323. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 17 July 1903, 13.
324. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 24 July 1903, 4.
325. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 8 April 1904, 11.
326. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 26 August 1904, 5.
327. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 17 November 1905, 8; Kapunda Herald, 26 August 1904, 6.
328. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 15 September 1905, 5.
406
329. Kapunda Herald, 1 September 1905, 6; 27 October 1905, 6.
330. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 4 May 1906, 7; 13 July 1906, 12.
331. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 1 June 1906, 5.
332. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 26 October 1906, 11; 14 June 1907, 13; 16 August 1907, 4.
333. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 7 December 1906, 5; 6 September 1907, 11.
334. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 10 May 1907, 4.
335. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 17 May 1907, 12.
336. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 17 May 1907, 12.
337. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 24 May 1907, 3.
338. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 31 May 1907, 12.
339. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 7 June 1907, 3; 21 June 1907, 13; Advertiser, 28 May 1907, 8; 30 May 1907, 6; 1 June 1907, 11; 3 June 1907, 6; 4 June 1907, 7; Register, 27 May 1907, 7; 28 May 1907, 9; 30 May
1907, 5; 31 May 1907, 5; 3 June 1907, 6; Chronicle, 1 June 1907, 53.
340. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 7 June 1907, 3-4; 21 June 1907, 7.
341. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 21 June 1907, 3; 28 June 1907, 3; 4 October 1907, 13.
342. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 5 July 1907, 12.
343. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 5 July 1907, 13; 12 July 1907, 7; 26 July 1907, 12.
344. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 2 August 1907, 7; 16 August 1907, 4, 13; 4 September 1907, 7; 1 November 1907, 4; 29 November 1907, 8-9.
345. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 23 August 1907, 12.
346. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 23 August 1907, 12.
347. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 30 August 1907, 12.
348. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 30 August 1907, 12.
349. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 13 September 1907, 4.
350. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 13 September 1907, 4.
351. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 13 September 1907, 12; 28 February 1908, 10.
352. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 11 October 1907, 6.
353. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 11 October 1907, 12.
354. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 10 April 1908, 10.
355. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 15 May 1908, 9.
356. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 3 July 1908, 7.
357. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 17 July 1908, 12.
358. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 31 July 1908, 12.
359. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 7 August 1908, 12.
360. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 16 October 1908, 4.
361. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 23 April 1909, 12.
362. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 7 May 1909, 14.
363. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 23 July 1909, 9-11; 30 July 1909, 1-5; 6 August 1909, 4-5; 13 August 1909, 4; 27 August 1909, 9; Register, 24 July 1909, 10; 26 July 1909, 7; 1 September 1909, 5; Advertiser, 31 July
1909, 11.
364. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 3 September 1909, 11.
365. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 19 August 1910, 12; 16 September 1910, 12; 28 October 1910, 5.
366. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 24 February 1911, 14.
407
367. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 28 April 1911, 12; 19 May 1911, 13; 26 May 1911, 3; 23 June 1911, 14; 21 July 1911, 5, 13; 28 July 1911, 7; 4 August 1911, 2, 7, 9; 11 August 1911, 4; 8 September 1911, 7; 6
October 1911, 17; 3 November 1911, 17; 17 November 1911, 18.
368. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 19 May 1911, 12.
369. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 21 July 1911, 13.
370. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 26 April 1912, 9; 31 May 1912, 16; 21 June 1912, 18; 5 July 1912, 7, 14; 12 July 1912, 21; 26 July 1912, 4; 2 August 1912, 14; 30 August 1912, 4.
371. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 10 May 1912, 7; 24 May 1912, 4; 31 May 1912, 4; 31 May 1912, 13; 21 June 1912, 4; 5 July 1912, 17; 19 July 1912, 17; 9 August 1912, 4; 30 August 1912, 4.
372. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 31 May 1912, 15; 23 August 1912, 7.
373. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 14 June 1912, 7-8.
374. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 14 June 1912, 8; 2 August 1912, 14.
375. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 24 May 1912, 6-9; 31 May 1912, 6-7; 7 June 1912, 6-9; 14 June 1912, 8; 28 June 1912, 5-11, 14; 5 July 1912, 14; 19 July 1912, 11, 18; Register, 20 May 1912, 9; 3 June 1912, 8; 6
June 1912, 7; 7 June 1912, 7; 8 June 1912, 17; Border Watch, 3 July 1912, 1; 6 July 1912, 2.
376. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 21 June 1912, 4.
377. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 28 June 1912, 2; 19 July 1912, 17.
378. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 26 July 1912, 9; 16 August 1912, 9.
379. Advertiser, 3 August 1912, 23; 5 August 1912, 12; 6 August 1912, 12; 7 August 1912, 14; 9 August 1912, 15; 13 August 1912, 12; 14 August 1912, 13; 24 August 1912, 8; 26 August 1912, 14; 29 August 1912, 11; 3
September 1912, 13; 4 September 1912, 18; 6 September 1912, 8, 12; 7 September 1912, 6; 17 September 1912, 11; 17 September 1913, 18.
380. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 16 August 1912, 15.
381. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 16 August 1912, 15.
382. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 16 August 1912, 17.
383. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 30 August 1912, 4.
384. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 30 August 1912, 13.
385. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 13 September 1912, 5.
386. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 22 August 1913, 11.
387. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 5 September 1913, 18.
388. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 3 October 1913, 17.
389. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 24 July 1914, 11.
390. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 24 July 1914, 11.
391. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 31 July 1914, 18.
392. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 9 July 1915, 13.
393. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 30 July 1915, 11.
394. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 6 August 1915, 12.
395. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 13 August 1915, 6.
396. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 3 September 1915, 7.
397. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 3 September 1915, 13.
398. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 8 October 1915, 5.
399. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 15 October, 14; 12 November 1915, 12.
400. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 12 November 1915, 12; 19 November 1915, 12.
401. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 26 November 1915, 13.
402. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 17 December 1915, 5; 21 January 1916, 7.
403. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 14 July 1916, 11; 28 July 1916, 14.
408
404. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 11 August 1916, 12.
405. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 31 August 1917, 351.
406. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 6 September 1918, 355; 25 October 1918, 473; 6 December 1918, 574.
407. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 11 October 1918, 447; 22 November 1918, 542.
408. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 8 August 1919, 294; 29 August 1919, 340; 17 October 1919, 462; 7 November 1919, 505; 28 November 1919, 553; 26 December 1919, 622.
409. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 27 February 1920, 749; 2 April 1920, 7; 30 April 1920, 69; 14 May 1920, 111; 21 May 1920, 127; 4 June 1920,159; 2 July 1920, 213; 16 July 1920, 250; 30 July 1920, 279; 1 October
1920, 431; 22 October 1920, 476; 18 February 1921, 733.
410. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 2 April 1920, 14.
411. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 7 January 1921, 635.
412. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 1 July 1921, 219; 8 July 1921, 233; 12 August 1921, 310; 19 August 1921, 382; 26 August 1921, 346; 2 September 1921, 367; 9 September 1921, 381; 23 September 1921, 407; 21
October 1921, 477; 4 November 1921, 508; 9 December 1921, 579.
413. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 17 February 1922, 739; 2 June 1922, 132; 23 June 1922; 183; 4 August 1922, 278.
414. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 11 May 1923, 5; 8 June 1923, 3; 22 June 1923, 3; 20 July 1923, 11, 15; 27 July 1923, 9; 3 August 1923, 10; 17 August 1923, 7; 7 September 1923, 9; Register, 2 June 1923, 14.
415. Register, 16 June 1923, 10; 29 June 1923, 7; 30 June 1923, 10; 3 July 1923, 12; 4 July 1923, 9; 6 July 1923, 9; 6 July 1923, 9; 14 July 1923, 14; 17 July 1923, 10; Australian Christian Commonwealth, 30 March 1923, 807;
13 April 1923, 12; 4 May 1923, 4; 8 June 1923, 9; 6 July 1923, 13; 13 July 1923, 3.
416. Register, 17 October 1923, 10; 29 October 1923, 11; 30 October 1923, 7; 24 November 1923, 18; 26 November 1923, 13; 7 December 1923, 7.
417. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 18 January 1924, 13; 15 February 1924, 13; 21 March 1924, 15.
418. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 29 August 1924, 14.
419. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 13 November 1925, 14.
420. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 19 February 1926, 9; 26 March 1926, 3; 2 April 1926, 9; 9 April 1926, 4, 7; 16 April 1926, 3; 30 April 1926, 9; 14 May 1926, 3-4; 21 May 1926, 3-4; 28 May 1926, 3; 18 June 1926,
15; Register, 3 April 1926, 8; 17 April 1926, 4; 24 April 1926, 18; 5 May 1926, 13; 8 May 1926, 10; 10 May 1926, 6-8; 11 May 1926, 8, 11, 13; 12 May 1926, 8, 12; 13 May 1926, 8, 13; 14 May 1926, 14; 15 May 1926, 3; 17
May 1926, 12; 18 May 1926, 8, 15; 19 May 1926, 13; 20 May 1926, 5, 11; 21 May 1926, 7, 10; 25 May 1926, 10.
421. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 9 July 1926, 6.
422. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 9 July 1926, 14; 23 July 1926, 12; 27 August 1926, 5.
423. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 27 August 1926, 15.
424. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 27 August 1926, 15.
425. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 17 September 1926, 7.
426. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 9 March 1928, 16.
427. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 11 May 1928, 14.
428. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 16 March 1928, 3; 13 April 1928, 3; 27 April 1928, 1; 4 May 1928, 10-11; 1 June 1928, 9; 8 June 1928, 4; 15 June 1928, 1; 15 June 1928, 4; 22 June 1928, 4; 29 June 1928, 4; 6 July
1928, 4-5, 12; 13 July 1928, 4-5, 16; 10 August 1928, 9; Register, 4 July 1928, 7; Advertiser, 7 July 1928, 26.
429. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 31 August 1928, 5.
430. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 31 May 1929, 13; 5 July 1929, 7; 19 July 1929, 7; 19 July 1929, 16; 16 August 1929, 8; 23 August 1929, 5; 20 September 1929, 16; 22 November 1929, 12; 28 February 1930, 5; 7
March 1930, 5.
431. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 13 March 1931, 3.
432. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 6 June 1930, 8, 11.
433. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 19 September 1930, 11; 3 October 1930, 11.
434. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 20 March 1931, 13; 24 April 1931, 15; 26 June 1931, 14; 25 September 1931, 8; 6 November 1931, 13; 27 November 1931, 12.
435. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 11 September 1931, 12.
436. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 29 April 1932, 15; 6 May 1932, 15; 20 May 1932; 19 August 1932, 12, 13; 26 August 1932, 14.
409
437. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 24 March 1933, 12.
438. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 8 June 1934, 1.
439. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 14 September 1934, 8.
440. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 5 October 1934, 3.
441. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 2 November 1934; 5 April 1935, 12; Advertiser, 2 February 1935, 14; 18 February 1935, 10; 20 February 1935, 7; 21 February 1935, 10; 23 February 1935, 10.
442. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 12 July 1935, 12; 16 August 1935, 4.
443. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 10 January 1936, 13.
444. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 14 February 1936, 3.
445. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 14 February 1936, 13.
446. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 30 October 1936, 14.
447. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 13 November 1936, 4.
448. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 23 July 1937, 3; 8 October 1937, 6; 8 October 1937, 12.
449. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 22 July 1938, 6; 2 September 1938, 15; 23 September 1938, 5, 13.
450. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 15 July 1938, 5; 7 October 1938, 3.
451. Australian Christian Commonwealth, 10 February 1939, 4; 17 February 1939, 1; 7 April 1939, 2; 19 May 1939, 3; 2 June 1939, 15; 16 June 1939, 3; 4 August 1939, 16; 18 August 1939, 16; 3 November 1939, 3; 8
December 1939, 14.
410
Appendix 2
Methodist Conversion and Membership Figures – South Australia – 1838-1939
Includes Bible Christian, Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan 1838-1899
Methodist Church of Australasia, South Australia Conference 1900-1939
Abbreviations: BC - Bible Christian
Year
Event
PM - Primitive Methodist
Category
Location
Adelaide
June 1838
1840-41
1851
1851
1853
1853-54
Revival
Revival
Revival
Revival
Revival
Signs of Revival
R2 or R3
R2
R2 or R3
R2 or R3
R2 or R3
R2 or R3
1853-60
1855
1855
1857
1858
R2 or R3
R2
R2 or R3
R2
R2
1858
1859
Continuous Revival
Revival
Revival
‘Great Awakening’
‘Gracious influence to
the awakening of
many’
‘Gracious Work’
Revival
1859
Revival
R2 and elements
of R3
R2 or R3
R2 or R3
R2 or R3
R2 or R3
1859
1859
1860
1860
Revival
Revival
Revival
Revival
R2
R2
Wes - Wesleyan
Conversion Index: Conversions as percentage of membership
Conversions
Country
BC
PM
Adelaide
Adelaide
Kapunda
Willunga
Burra
BC
PM
Conversion Index
Wes
BC
PM
Wes
Unknown
109
40
Unknown
50
277
1215
39.3
3.3
80
1506
5.3
Unknown
North
Adelaide
Gawler Plains
Norwood
Bowden
Norwood
Mitcham
Membership
Wesleyan
319
1233
25.8
60
1850
3.2
2477
1.2
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Adelaide
30
Small town near
Salisbury
Burra
Unknown
125 BC
Yankalilla
Callington
Kapunda
Watervale
200
411
500-640 reported
125 PM
791
1049
250 Wes
370
‘Many’
‘Large number’
791
2579
11.9
2579
2579
1233
15.8
9.7
14.3
16.2
Year
Event
Category
Location
Adelaide
Conversions
Country
1860
Revival
R2 or R3
Auburn
Angaston
1860
1860
1860
R2 or R3
R2 or R3
R2 or R3
Leasingham
Undalya
Yankalilla
1862
1862
Revival
Revival
‘Outpouring of the
Holy Spirit’
Revival
Revival
R2 or R3
Burra
Salisbury
1862
Revival
R2 or R3
1862-65
1862
R2
R2
1863
1864
1864
1864
1865
Revival
‘Outpouring of His
Spirit’
Revival
Revival
‘Blessing of God’
Revival
‘A feeling of enquiry’
R2 or R3
R2 or R3
Unknown
R2 or R3
Unknown
1865
1865
1865
1865
1866
1866
1867
1867
1867
1867
1867
1867
Revival
Evangelistic Visit
Revival
Revival
Revival
Revival
Revival
Revival
‘Showers of Blessings’
‘The Spirit poured out’
Revival
Special Services
R2 or R3
R2
R2 or R3
R2 or R3
R2
R2 or R3
R2
R2
R2 or R3
R2 or R3
R2
R2
1867
1868
Special Services
‘Great Awakening’
R2
R2
Moonta
BC
PM
BC
PM
‘Hundreds’(100)
Less than ten (8)
1233
1233
BC
PM
Wes
8.1
0.6
44
100
‘Many
converted’
‘Leap in conversions across the three branches of
Methodism’
Wallaroo
1081
3280
3.0
3280
0.8
1265
40
116
Unknown
6.0
3604
3604
1.1
3.2
3957
0.2
1379
8
25 PM
1.5
3280
77
Adelaide
Adelaide
2841
1081
26
Watergate
Sandergrove and
Nairne
Callington
Country
Happy Valley
Mount Barker
Conversion Index
Wes
‘Numerous
conversions’
Pirie Street
Norwood
Adelaide
Membership
Wesleyan
75 Wes
700-900
1545
1.6
3957
1.9
17.7
Unknown
100
7
Beverly
Gawler
Adelaide
Goolwa
Kooringa
Strathalbyn
Mount Barker
Chain of Ponds
& Cudlee Creek
Gawler
Strathalbyn
40
55
30
1545
1740
80
230
140
69
4502
4800
1619
1855
1855
220
38
412
2.5
3.0
1.6
5.2
1913
1.8
4.8
2.9
1.4
4.6
2.3
1619
19
4800
4800
1619
84
6.4
0.4
1.0
Year
Event
Category
Location
Adelaide
1868
1868
Revival
‘The Spirit poured out’
1868
‘Showers of Blessing’
1868
1869
1869
1869
1870
1870
Revival
Special Services
Revival
‘The Spirit poured out’
Evangelistic Visit
Revival
1872
1872
1872
1873
1873-74
1874
1874
Revival
Revival
Revival
Revival
‘Showers of Blessing’
Revival
‘A gracious work of
God’
‘A quickening’
Revival
Revival
Revival
‘Outpourings of the
Spirit’
Revival
1874
1874
1874
1874
1874
1874-75
1875
1875
1875
1875
1876
1876
1876
Special Services
Special United Services
‘Gospel Mission’
Revival
‘Outpouring of the
Spirit’
Revival
Revival
R2 or R3
R2 and elements
of R3
Elements of R3
followed by R2
R2
R2
R2
R2 or R3
R2
R2 and elements
of R3
R3
R2 or R3
R2
R2 or R3
R2 or R3
R3
R2
PM
Membership
Wesleyan
Adelaide
BC
150
‘Many’
32
Clarendon
Gawler
Kooringa
Wallaroo
Country
Clare
82
25
BC
60
150
PM
0.6
5.0
1.5
2041
284
20
280
2.9
7.3
5066
5319
5319
40
20
Wes
7.8
5045
2054
2054
5.6
0.4
5.2
1.9
1.0
Unknown
Unknown
Upper Sturt
New Jerusalem
2087
20
30
50-70
Bowden
Moonta and
Wallaroo
Kapunda
Kooringa
Conversion Index
Wes
1630
1612
Kooringa
Mount Barker
Yankalilla
R4
PM
1913
Willunga
Mount Gambier
Kooringa
Two Wells
Kapunda
Gawler
R2
R4
BC
Wallaroo
Mount Gambier
R2
R2
R2 or R3
R2
R2 or R3
R2
R2
R2
R2
R2
Conversions
Country
4762
1579
1579
50
4762
70
150
26-30
80
268 BC
1500
410 PM
822 Wes
20-30
4 BC
6 PM
10 Wes
Evangelical Churches – some salvations
30
30-40
Adelaide
Two Wells
Kent Town &
Norwood
Auburn
Wallaroo
Bible Christian 145 & Wesleyan 61
Unknown
413
0.4
1.9
3.1
1.0
2237
2237
2237
2237
1579
1579
3.1
6.7
1.1
3.5
2404
4869
17.0
17.0
17.0
2404
4869
4869
0.2
0.2
0.4
0.2
2404
1.3
4951
1828
4951
2364
0.6
7.9
1.2
Year
Event
Category
Location
Adelaide
R3
R2
R2
R2
Unknown
R2
R2
R2
R2
R2
R2
Unknown
R2
R2
R2
1878
‘Marks of Revival’
Revival
Revival
‘Promise of a Shower’
‘Salvation of Souls’
Revival
Revival
‘Showers of Blessing’
Revival
Revival
Revival
‘Church quickened’
‘Times of Blessing’
Revival
‘Outpouring of the
Spirit’
Revival
‘Power of God came
down’
Revival
1878
1878
1877
1877
1877
1877
1877
1877
1877
1877
1877
1877
1877
1877
1877
1877
1877
1877
1877
Mount Barker
Mount Barker
Kooringa
Goolwa
Gawler
Gawler
Mount Torrens
Clare
Saddleworth
Clarendon
Mount Lofty
Port Wakefield
Moonta
Revival
‘Special Services’
R2
R2
1878
1879
‘Special Services’
Revival
R2
R2
1879
1879
Revival
‘Private personal
Appeal’
‘Special Services’
‘Special Services’
Revival-Temperance
Matthew Burnett
(R-T MB)
R-T MB
R2
R2
Gawler Plains
Gawler – Lower
Alma
Minlanton
Kooringa Redruth
Two Wells
Balaklava
R2
Membership
Wesleyan
BC
PM
60
130
80
27
Pirie Street
R2 or R3
1880
PM
Willunga
Mount Torrens
Mount Gambier
R2
R2
R2
BC
Port Adelaide
R2 or R3
R2
1879
1879
1880
Conversions
Country
‘Many’
‘Ingathering’
BC
PM
Wes
4896
4896
4896
4896
1.2
2.6
1.6
0.5
4896
4896
1.1
1.2
2348
2348
57
61
40
‘Considerable’
52
1998
1998
1998
Some
2.0
4896
2.6
2348
‘Several’
50
10
1998
1998
1998
‘Souls won’
2.5
0.5
1998
15
2348
‘Large
numbers’
80
0.6
4864
2063
8
3.8
2208
25
0.3
4864
50
0.5
1904
35
2.6
1904
50
Clare
Mount Gambier
Conversion Index
Wes
1.8
2150
2.3
Pirie Street
70
35
118
4802
4802
4938
1.4
0.7
2.4
Archer St.
180
4938
3.6
414
Year
Event
Category
Location
Adelaide
1880
1880
1880
1880
R2
R2
R2
R2
1880
1880
1880
R-T MB
‘Special Services’
‘Evangelistic Services’
‘Showers of Blessing’
R-T MB
‘Special Services’
R-T MB
R-T MB
1880
1880
Revival
R-T MB
R2 or R3
R2
Quorn
Northern Areas
1881
R-T MB
R2
Jamestown
1881
R-T MB
R2
Mount Gambier
1881
R-T MB
R2
1881
R-T MB
R2
1881
R-T MB
R2
1881
R-T MB
R2
1881
Revival
R-T MB
R-T MB
R2
Mid-North
Four towns
Mid-North
Six towns
Mid-North
Thirteen towns
Far-North
Eleven towns
Moonta Mines
R2
Mintaro & Clare
R2
Kooringa &
Redruth
1881
Revival
R-T MB
Revival
1881
R-T MB
R2
1881
1881
1881
R-T MB
R2
R2
R2
R2
R2
Conversions
Country
BC
Membership
PM
Wesleyan
Brompton
122 BC
32 BC
Wes
4938
4938
4938
0.6
4938
4938
1.0
0.4
5231
0.38
28
180-pledges
278 Wes
5231
100 PM
2000-pledges
26 PM
435-pledges
150
600-pledges
72 Wes
Wesleyan & Bible Christian
46 BC
2.0
5231
5231
5231
0.6
5231
2306
1875
5231
0.5
5.3
5.3
5231
2306
1875
5231
5.3
2.8
1.4
1.4
1.4
5231
2306
5231
2.0
2.0
2306
5231
0.7
0.7
104 Wes
373-pledges
Wesleyan & Bible Christian
415
PM
30
Unknown
100
1000-pledges
50
20
1006-pledges
20
272-pledges
‘Some’
180-pledges
‘Several’
420-pledges
30
479-pledges
Some
Unknown
15 BC
BC
1.7
0.5
2.0
3.3
Draper
Memorial
Coromandel
Valley &
Clarendon
Yankalilla
Four towns
Conversion Index
Wes
4938
4938
4938
4938
Kent Town &
Norwood
Port Adelaide
PM
88
25
100
167
Koolunga
Kapunda
Yarcowie
Moonta
BC
34 Wes
Year
Event
Category
Location
Adelaide
Conversions
Country
BC
PM
Membership
Conversion Index
Wesleyan
BC
PM
Wes
BC
PM
Wes
52
148 Wes
2306
1875
5231
5231
2.8
2.8
1.0
2.8
188-pledges
1881
1881
R-T MB
R-T MB
R2
R2
Archer St.
1882
R-T MB
R2
1882
R-T MB
R2
1882
R-T MB
R2
1882
R-T MB
R2
1882
R-T MB
R2
Port Elliot,
Victor Harbor
South East
1882
R-T MB
R2
South East
1882
R-T MB
R2
1882
R-T MB
R2
!882
R-T MB
R2
1882
1882
Revival
Revival
R2 or R3
R2
Willunga,
Aldinga
Blackwood & six
towns
Morphett V 3
towns
Kadina
Kooringa
1882
R-T MB
R2
1882
R-T MB
R2
1882
R-T MB
R2
1882
R-T MB
R2
North Rhine,
Redruth,
Kooringa
Port Elliot,
Victor Harbor
Penola, Border
Town,
Naracoorte
Kingston & Robe
Yorke Peninsula
– 17 towns
Moonta Mines &
9 towns
Kapunda & 8
towns
Pirie Street
Angaston & 3
towns, Kangaroo
65 BC
53 PM
238-pledges
Wesleyan, Bible Christian, Congregational
‘Some conversions’
270-pledges
Presbyterian, Congregational, Wesleyan
183-pledges
Wesleyan, Primitive Methodist, Presbyterian
217-pledges
Wesleyan, Congregational
593-pledges
Wesleyan, Church of England
2 Anglican conversions, 397 pledges, 8 Wes
Wesleyan, Bible Christian, Presbyterian
412-pledges
Wesleyan, Bible Christian
185-pledges
Wesleyan, Baptist
12 Baptist
527 pledges
25 Wes
Wesleyan, Bapt, BC 53 conversions 322 pledges
12 BC
33 Wes
50
500-600 conversions